Unappreciated
by Ruj
Summary: The Fang Gang goes to Sunnyhell to help with the First Evil, Cordy’s back and she isn’t happy, and the apocalypse is a comin’. Can they save the world? Or even stay in the same room? Tune in to find out. AU.
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

Title: Unappreciated

Author: Inara

Rating: R (may go up to NC-17)

Pairing: C/A (not at first), F/G, B/S, D/C, and major C/S friendship

Email: Action/Angst/Romance

Summary: The Fang Gang goes to Sunnyhell to help with the first, the Scoobies are losing, Cordy's back and she isn't happy, and the apocalypse is a comin'. Can they save the world, or even stay in the same room? Tune in to find out.

Spoilers: All of AtS season 4, and BtVS season 7 (read AN)

Disclaimer: Angel: The series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Joss Whedon. David Greenwalt and Co. Fox, Mutant Enemy and whomever else Joss says it belongs to. I'm just taking the characters out of the box to plat with for a little while, will put them back as I found them, promise. No infringement or breaking of any laws intended.

Distribution: (FSB), AO, anywhere else just email me first and it's yours.

Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated, will try and make this fic as interactive as readers want.

A/N1: AtS: Whilst 'evil' Cordy was reigning havoc on the FG, real Cordy was a Power, working in an alternate dimension on the side of good as the PTB asked her, once this task was completed she would be able to return to Earth (with some conditions), hence she has no idea what happened to the FG (read prologue). 'Evil' Cordy rejected Connor's overtures as a SON therefore he retreated from her and went to Angel and they have a better relationship, but still not perfect. 'Evil' Cordy got pregnant by the beast not Connor! Fred and Gunn worked through their issues, though Gunn still slept with Gwen and Fred and Wesley sorted out their chemistry (all occurred during Fred and Gunn's brief separation). Wesley is NOT in love with Fred, he was however in love with Lilah but didn't realise till too late, she still died at the hand of 'evil' Cordy'. Connor was upset because Jasmine made him feel at peace (that's why he took her side), but it was false and so he is trying to deal with killing her. Angel is worried about Connor, and angry at Cordy for indirectly causing it and himself for not noticing that it was never her. (Skip wasn't evil; he was a fake Skip, real Skip was with real Cordy.

A/N2: BtVS: still leading up to the finale, Faith has just arrived, Spike has soul, Buffy has yet to forgive him, but they work together for the greater good. Dawn has come into her own and is generally an apprentice to Giles and Willow, learning minor magics and translating, however Buffy does not recognise this. Xander and Anya have worked they're way back to barely civil friendship. Willow is able to do magic, but still has a fear of the major works, looks to Giles for guidance. This is during mid-season 7, so the scoobies don't really know much except it's the First and it's big. I know it doesn't mesh, but pretend that everything on AtS happened faster.

A/N3: Sorry about the lengthy AN's just needed to set the scene, now on to the story.

**Prologue**

_The Higher Realms _

'You may enter', Cordy looked up, "bout time" she mumbled to herself, she had been waiting for an eternity or 5 minutes you can never tell in the Higher Realms. She had been waiting for the Power's to grant her an audience since she returned from her mission in the Jianxing Dimension. A comforting touch on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts, and to the reality she resided in. She turned to Skip and gave him a small smile and regally entered the chamber, she had been granted this audience alone. Inside the chamber sat on a dais were 7 powers', Cordy stood at the centre and waited _god she hated waiting_ and she hoped that no one was looking into her mind. There was a profound silence, which was broken by the middle power, "welcome child", to which Cordelia raised a single eyebrow, she hated when they talked to her like this. "We have been pleased with your work in the Jianxing; your dedication has not gone unnoticed. We have another crisis developing on Earth"

"Earth, what's wrong? Is everyone ok? What about my family? Angel? Connor? Gunn? Fred? Lorne? Wes? Please tell me there ok. What could happen in a week?" Cordy interrupted breathlessly.

"Child" replied another power; "it has been almost a solar cycle on Earth."

"A Year, I've been gone an entire year, you promised I would only be gone a week, that my mission would last a week here," Cordy yelled her friends must be so worried about her, they might think that she had gone for good.

"Child…" began a power.

"And stop with the child crap, I'm a higher being now as well remember." Cordy added furiously they had royally ticked her off. They had promised her only a week and look at what had happened.

"Cordelia it has been a week in the higher realms but as you know from your study time moves differently between realms."

"Enough" stated the Power on the end of the dais. "Just show her what she missed we need her to understand."

"Very well" added another power they're voices continuing from one another seamlessly.

The next thing Cordelia knew her mind was bombarded with images. As the images finally finished a pair of betrayed hazel eyes looked at the dais, "why would you do this, allow that bitch of a power to take my body and cause so much pain. Why?" She asked softly her voice filled with pain after everything that she had done, everything she had sacrificed and then they did this.

"It was necessary…"

"Necessary how can allow a rogue power, wreak so much havoc, on your warriors" she broke off confused. What had happened had cause pain to her family that just wasn't acceptable to her no matter what the reason.

"We expected your champion to notice faster, his incompetence almost destroyed free will, however he rectified the situation in time."

Then it hit her with the force slayer punch to the gut, they never noticed. He never noticed it wasn't her, her family, best friend, champion couldn't tell the difference between her and an evil power. She felt sick, after everything she did for her family. Then it was gone, the anger and fury were still there buried deep, but she was a higher being, a power she had a calling more important than her insecurities and hurt feelings. "You mentioned a crisis" she stately calmly to powers on high even though deep within her the heart that she had handed to her friends was now crushed under their feet but she was still Cordelia Chase and she had a mission to complete.

"The First Evil was able to break free. Due to a shift in the balance of powers. It has begun its campaign on the hellmouth. Your presence is required. Due to recent events none of the champions are ready, mentally for the fight that lies ahead."

Simultaneous to this speech Cordy's mind was once again filled with images but of the Scoobies this time. Cordy looked at the powers once again, "in what capacity am I required seer, consultant, general? What is my mission?"

"You are required as always to protect the greater good, the slayer has been lax in her duties, the key was placed in her care as a reward for her dedication to the fight, however she has failed to educate the key to her full potential. The watcher and witch have their own battles to fight they cannot focus on the key as well. That is your mission. The one known, as 'the Destroyer' is also vulnerable, he needs to be taught about human emotion, he is also in need of guidance. Cordelia your task is to ensure that these prodigies are able to continue the fight in future generations. Their continued survival is key." The power's speech left Cordelia confused surely there were more qualified higher beings, why her?

"I'm supposed to keep Dawn and Connor alive and train them, is that it, and stop the first evil from taking over, anything else?" Replied Cordelia, she knew she was missing something, "child we realise that we have made errors in the past, especially when human emotions are involved you must ensure that the Destroyer and the Key are ready for the future, physically and emotionally, they cannot however be allowed to produce a child at this time." The powers response was enlightening as the bigger picture snapped together in front of Cordy. Dawn and Connor's child would allow the first evil to become corporeal, the shift in the balance would be all that was necessary, but the powers did not understand emotions, the risk was too great. Enter Cordy chaperone extraordinaire, and Cordelia Chase finally had a bargaining chip against the powers that screwed her.

"I'll do it," stated Cordy firmly "but with a few conditions…"

**Chapter One:**

Sunnydale:

"We need to talk" Faith whispered to the passing wicca as she dragged the witch into one of the many unused rooms in the mansion.

"Huh?" was the red head's confused reply.

"You haven't told B!"

"Haven't told Buffy what exactly?"

"About what really happened in LA, and about a certain miracle child and that Angel-"

"I know, but we're kind of in the middle of an apocalypse here its not really the best time-" Willow interrupted defensively

"Exactly" Faith started "we're in the middle of the biggest apocalypse we've ever had to face and we need help!"

"But Buffy says…"

"Damn it Willow, Buffy's wrong, Jesus I've only been here a week and I can see how screwed we are, look I know I'm the last person to give anyone advice but if there is one thing prison, life, hell if Angel taught me anything it was to know when to ask for help and believe me Willow we need help" Faith pleaded.

"I know, and I agree, we could use the help, but its hard for Buffy, bringing up Angel brings up a lot of old issues for her" Willow tried to defend her best friend.

"I understand that but we don't have the luxury of dealing with Buffy's issues, we're at war and we're nowhere near ready, so I did it, B always pissed at me at least this way we can get the extra help we need."

"Goddess Faith what did you do?" Willow asked breathlessly

"I called Wesley, they're on their way right now, actually we had better get some rooms ready"

"Faith! How could you!" Willow began, "You know what, you're right it needed to be done. Did you tell them to come here to the mansion instead of the house"

"Damn I knew I forgot something, never mind Angel'll probably come here first anyway t settle in. We best get started on those rooms" Faith replied.

"Shouldn't we tell someone that they're coming?" Willow apprehensively asked.

"Nah, why give B more chances to be pissed"

"Speaking of pissed, do you think Angel will be angry that were staying in his mansion"

"Pissed no way, Angel's gonna be furious, that vamp is one possessive bastard, the shit is gonna hit the fan when he finds out. I tried to warn B-"

"So did Spike" Willow added

"But B was all Angel won't mind were soulmates we share everything blah blah" Faith continued privately she thought Buffy was in for a rude awakening once the original ensouled vampire arrives. Her brief sojourn into Angelus' mind gave her an insight into the vampire heart and mind, and it wasn't filled with Buffy anymore.

"We'd better sort those rooms out and pick up some food and blood, we've got over 20 girls, plus the fang gang and us we have nearly 40 people here"

"I know prison was more peaceful" Faith replied as the slayer and witch went off to prepare for their surprise guests.

Somewhere between LA and Sunnydale:

The Fang Gang had split into two cars for their road trip, out of sheer necessity 6 adults, Gunn's flamethrower and Wesley's library wouldn't fit in Angel's Plymouth let alone Lorne's extensive wardrobe. Angel, Connor and Wesley were in travelling in the Plymouth with Gunn, Fred and Lorne were following in the truck. There was a tense silence in the Plymouth both Angel and Wesley were overcome by their past in Sunnydale and the changes they had been through. Their return to the hellmouth only served to highlight the absence of the missing member of their Sunnydale rejects trio. She hadn't been mentioned since the revelation that Cordelia wasn't even there that something had been masquerading as her was to painful to comprehend. None of them could bare the thought so they didn't mention it, they didn't mention her until Connor unable to bear the painful silence asked "so what's so bad about the hellmouth? I've never seen the two of you so worried before, is it the apocalypse?"

Both men exchanged silent glances, It was understandable that Connor was confused they had just told him to pack and then just threw everything into the car's and took off for the infamous hellmouth. To tell the truth LA was painful for the Fang Gang they all jumped at the opportunity to get away from the bad memories for a wile even if it meant fighting another apocalypse within 24 hours of defeating the previous one. Seeing Angel focusing intently on the road (they left as soon as the sun had set) Wesley attempted to answer Connor's query "No Connor, it's not the apocalypse God knows we've had enough practice at those, Sunnydale just has bad memories for the three of us" he said not noticing his slip.

"Three of you?" Connor asked.

"What? Oh!" He glanced quickly at Angel took a deep breath "Sunnydale is where your father and first met Cordelia, she grew up there".

"Mo-Cordy grew up on a hellmouth" Connor asked excitedly, he didn't know that much about the woman he still privately thought of as his mother. He didn't mention her especially recently her name was taboo especially in front of Angel. Connor gathered small bits of information from listening to the others. He spent the rest of the journey asking questions about the past and their life in Sunnydale, picking up more information, eventually Both his father and Wesley seemed to be loosening up however talking about the Hellmouth led to the topic of Buffy.

After about 10 minutes of silence "so do you love Buffy?" Connor asked Angel in his direct manner. For some reason the expression on Wesley's face and the fact that Fred referred to Buffy as the B-word made Connor apprehensive.

"Son that was a long time ago, we've both moved on" Angel replied with his jaw clenched.

"That wasn't an answer, dad" Connor replied shortly.

"Direct much" Angel questioned "God I forgot how much you take after your mother."

It was only after Wesley burst out laughing that Angel realised what he had let slip, Angel's expression turned horrified. He never meant to say that out loud, it was only recently that he began to notice similarities between Connor and Cordy the simultaneous pain and pleasure that one thought could bring Angel awed him.

"Cordy- was direct then? I don't remember much as it wasn't even her this past year" Connor asked hesitantly yet with a pleased expression on his face.

Wesley seeing the tenseness in Angel's body decided to turn the conversation to happier times "Cordy-direct? Well that's the polite way of putting it" he said with a small smile "she…"

"…had no tact" finished Angel a small smile graced his face as well.

"She was always honest" added Wesley. "Painfully so at times it seemed" he added in afterthought.

"Except when it concerned her health" Angel mumbled luckily only Wesley heard and he acknowledged the comment with a slight nod of his head. Connor was just happy that they were starting to talk about Cordy, it was a start.

Seeing the 'Welcome To Sunnydale' sign Wes asked Angel "shall we go Buffy's first or the mansion".

After a moment "the mansion" was Angel's reply "Buffy's house is probably full, we may as well settle our stuff at the mansion first".

"It's been four years, is it still empty?" Wes asked as Angel started up Crawford Street. Angel abruptly stopped the car, even at this distance you could see the lights on. Angel's face was an impressive display of fury. The truck pulled in behind them and Fred, Lorne and Gunn got out and approached Angel.

"Hey I thought your place is supposed to be empty?" but seeing the expression on Angel's face he backed off, it was rare that Angel got vampiric or possessive over things usually Cordy related. Although this seemed to be one of the rare non Cordy moments.

"Load up! Weapons everybody! I want to see who dares to trespass on my property!" Angel snarled with his game face rippling as an angry undercurrent to his words. The rest of the gang looked shocked at his orders, his anger seemed a little out of proportion.

"Angel" Wes tried to calm the irrational vampire "we don't need a jihad to get rid of squatters".

"Yeah man, crib this nice, your gonna get squatters, we'll run em out in no time, what the big deal?" Gunn also attempted to calm the vampire who had lost his game face at Wes' words.

"The deal is that the mansion is the property of the Master of the Order of Aurelis, and everybody knows it! That's me! It's about respect damn it! I am SICK of people taking what's MINE without PERMISSION!" Angel shouted whilst getting his favourite broadsword from the trunk of the car and throwing the rest of the gang their weapons.

And Wesley understood the vampire's anger, Connor and more recently Cordelia both had been taken from him, the mansion was probably the last straw. Angel and the gang had reached the front door and Angel without stopping kicked in the door.

Inside the mansion:

BAM!

The scoobies were all around a large oak table trying to pinpoint where the first was based when the front door slammed against the wall.

And there stood a furious Angel he could be confused as Angelus with that expression. He took the room in a glance and saw Giles, Willow, Anya and Dawn conferring over a pile of books and scrolls, ten or so girls were around the room relaxing and training, he could hear the heartbeats of another dozen in other parts of HIS mansion he eyes then went to Buffy, Xander, Kennedy, Faith and Spike huddled over a map. He strode straight to Spike who had turned even paler if possible at the rather sudden appearance of his grandsire.

"Explain yourself" Angel growled out whilst holding Spike in a choke hold against the wall. The attack was so sudden everybody was caught unaware. The entire room was watching the spectacle as Buffy made her way over to the vampires.

"Err-slayer-infestation-house-tried to tell-didn't listen" Spike tried to explain.

"Angel, what are you doing here? Put Spike down!" Buffy exclaimed by his arm.

Dropping Spike to the ground Angel turned to Buffy incredulously. "What am I doing here? This is MY DAMN HOUSE!" He roared "I can be here anytime I damn please!"

Buffy shocked by his outburst stepped back, she then thought she understood "Oh you're wondering what we're doing here?" at which the fang gang collectively scoffed. "well we had an infestation of something at my place, and I thought could stay here cause there's loads of space for all the potentials that are still arriving. And I knew you wouldn't mind" she added with a little pout that had always worked on the vampire before.

Angel couldn't believe it, what did he ever see in her, she was still acting like a teenager! If she had just asked, he would've said yes. It was the presumption that rankled him the most that and her ignorance. She was the slayer for crying out loud she should understand how territorial vampires are. Angel moved his gaze to Spike who just shrugged and looked at Giles who looked slightly embarrassed and yet Buffy was still prattling on. He had enough he came to stop an apocalypse and to stop thinking about C- Damn it he did it again.

Frustrated and pissed off Angel couldn't take anymore. "Buffy, shut up!" angel snapped "I'm here to stop an apocalypse, and fight the first evil not listen to prattle on about yourself" and with that harsh statement he walked to Giles and said quietly "you need to control your slayer, I'm not her whipping boy any more" and he took a seat at the table next to a now seated Wesley and said to himself "I don't take any orders, not anymore". At this Wesley glanced at his sometime friend, boss, brother Angel was worrying him his anger at Buffy was only superficial he knew Angel's real problem was the Power's. The PTB had messed Angel too many times, this time they had done the unforgivable they took away Cordy. Wes wasn't sure how long Angel could keep his façade of control up. Ironically the one person who could bring him back was the reason for his breakdown. They were all so tired, none of the fang gang has had a break since Connor was born. They have had 18 long months and now they had to go against the first evil without their heart, without their strength. Wesley didn't know how his family could survive another crisis.

"So, lets get on with the introductions" Willow's attempt at an ice breaker broke Wesley's private musings and brought him back to the present. After a quick round of who's who Giles began explaining in detail the situation in Sunnydale. He had just got to where potential slayers were being targeted globally when Wes cut in. "What is the council proposing? They must have a plan of action by now" Wesley's question stopped Giles short.

"Y-you don't know?" He asked with an expression of pain on his face. For the first time Giles looked and felt old.

"don't know what?" Wesley asked confused, he glanced at the scoobies who all avoided his gaze. He looked back at Giles who was now at the side board fixing himself a glass of single malt and proceeded to drink it in one shot neat. He then poured another glass and refilled his own. He set a glass in front of Wesley.

"6 weeks ago Council Headquarters was blown up" Giles said with sympathy.

Wesley paled in shock "but…?" He looked at Giles and understood. "Oh God" Wesley downed his shot, and refilled it with the bottle that Giles had left in front of him. Only he and Giles could truly understand the scope and depth of loss they had suffered.

Giles continued "Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, New Delhi, Mumbai, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Cairo, Cape Town, Rio and all European branches wiped out." Wesley couldn't believe it, the sheer amount devastation and death that had occurred. He threw his now empty glass against the bare wall behind him where it made a satisfying crash. Everybody else at the table gave Wesley some time to adjust and the fang gang kept an eye on Wesley, until Buffy broke the silence.

"Look, Wes I know it's a shock, but lets be realistic" she looked at the rest of the table "but how much did the council really help anyway- I mean we're the ones fighting-"

"Buffy!" Willow and Dawn both shouted at the slayer. Everybody else just stared at the blonde slayer with expressions varying from shock to outright disgust. Even those that disagreed with the council, now was obviously not the time, her audacity shocked them all even he potentials who were watching the entire meeting from the edges showed shock. Elizabeth one of the English potentials looked angry.

Wesley ignored Buffy, and asked Giles "what did you manage to salvage?"

Giles had never been so angry or disappointed in his slayer, he knew he was partly to blame but he had hoped that she had grown up in the past year. Obviously not. He was about to reply to Wesley but decided to correct Buffy, after all he was 7 years late. "Buffy- the loss of the council is a massive blow, one I might add has never happened on this scale before. We have lost the world's largest collection of mystical books, scrolls and prophecies, as well as the councils collection of occult artefacts and the council's numerous projects. Knowledge is the most important weapon in any fight I thought I had at least managed to teach you that." At Buffy's chagrined expression he turned back to Wesley. "I could only salvage a dozen or so texts, so we'll have to use whatever we can get access to on this continent, but Wesley…" he broke off as Wesley interrupted him.

"How many dead?" Wesley just asked quietly.

Giles expression once again turned grave. "In Britain we lost just under 4000. Globally including potentials somewhere between 30,000 – 35,000." The entire room froze. So many dead, people that fought the same fight as they did. Even Buffy was in shock. She had never thought to ask.

"Wesley, the London explosion went off during the High Adept Closed Session" Wesley took a large draft from the bottle in front of him he knew what was coming. "The entire board was killed, all the major players including…"

"My parents." Wesley finished off for him. Fred gasped and went to hug him. As the Fang Gang closed around Wes, supporting him. The scoobies hadn't given much thought to the council and it's destruction it seemed too far away and they had enough problems of their own. At that moment the devastation seemed a lot closer. Once everyone was seated again Wesley asked about the rest of his family, he had descended on both sides from old families that had devoted themselves to the good fight.

Giles sympathetically answered, it was hard for him losing colleagues and lifelong friends but Wesley had grown up in the council, his family was the oldest and most powerful, his loss was too big to comprehend. "I spoke to Olivia Reid this morning, she's dealing with the London situation. I'm sorry to say that the bringers were quite specific in some of their kills. Your entire line was targeted, both sided from Council members and team members to spouses and even the children. I'm sorry to say but they were all slaughtered." Wesley paled, never in his worst nightmares could he imagine the innocents in his family would be so brutally killed.

"I managed to save Molly, I was training her in the Cotswolds when the attacks occurred." Giles finally having some good news to give.

"Molly?" Fred asked as she had silent tears running down her face.

"My niece" replied Wes. "Where Is she?" Wesley asked looking around. "What training?"

"She's a potential, she's upstairs in bed, I told this afternoon about your family, she's was in shock, she only fell asleep a couple of hours ago." Giles answered.

Wes just nodded.


	2. Chapter 1a

Title: Unappreciated

Author: Inara

Rating: R (may go up to NC-17)

Pairing: C/A (not at first), F/G, B/S, D/C, and major C/S friendship

Email: Action/Angst/Romance

Summary: The Fang Gang goes to Sunnyhell to help with the first, the Scoobies are losing, Cordy's back and she isn't happy, and the apocalypse is a comin'. Can they save the world, or even stay in the same room? Tune in to find out.

Spoilers: All of AtS season 4, and BtVS season 7 (read AN)

Disclaimer: Angel: The series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Joss Whedon. David Greenwalt and Co. Fox, Mutant Enemy and whomever else Joss says it belongs to. I'm just taking the characters out of the box to play with for a little while, will put them back as I found them, promise. No infringement or breaking of any laws intended.

Distribution: (FSB), AO, anywhere else just email me first and it's yours.

Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated, will try and make this fic as interactive as readers want.

**Chapter 1.2**

_Previously: "I managed to save Molly, I was training her in the Cotswolds when the attacks occurred." Giles finally having some good news to give._

"_Molly?" Fred asked as she had silent tears running down her face._

"_My niece" replied Wes. "Where is she?" Wesley asked looking around. "What training?"_

"_She's a potential, she's upstairs in bed, I told this afternoon about your family, she's was in shock, she only fell asleep a couple of hours ago." Giles answered._

_Wes just nodded. _

Crawford Mansion:

Wesley was in shock; actually he was so past shocked he had moved into a state of numbness, it was really quite comforting it allowed him to function. His mind turned over all the information he had been given in the past hour and with an objective perspective he quickly applied the new information to the situation, he was amazed that it took Faith to call them to the situation, they were in massive trouble. In a rather clinical tone that shocked the scoobies but the fang gang was all too familiar with it was Wesley's watcher tone, cold and detached.

"What is the exact situation here in Sunnydale?"

"The First has been attacking on three fronts, it's been using bringers to assassinate potentials here and globally; it's also using some form of pure vampires to keep Sunnydale in a state of turmoil and to keep Buffy busy. It is the First Evil's personal attacks in the form of the previously deceased, so far we encountered forms of Joyce, Jenny, Buffy, Drusilla and many others. The First has seemed to concentrate these personal attacks on Spike, we don't know why?" Giles replied he off all could understand Wesley's desire to focus on business.

"Spike? What's so important about him?" Angel asked derisively.

"Hey!" Spike replied defensively

"Angel!" Fred sounded disappointed, "that wasn't very nice!"

"Nice! Who cares about nice, it's Spike." Angel replied but seeing Fred he mumbled "First stalked me too! It's not a big deal,"

But Fred heard him, she couldn't believe the tension in the room, 'were gonna have to make an effort, especially if they wanted to survive the impending apocalypse. Feeling sympathetic to the blonde vampire who had already been physically and verbally attacked by Angel, and psychically by the First and yet no one had stuck up for him. So with an uncharacteristic heat she told Angel off "Damn it Angel, could you at least try to be civil, he's family!"

The shock was obvious on the faces of Gunn, Connor and Angel all three of whom had expressed their shock with a loud "Family?" Even the scoobies were surprised at someone calling Spike family, only Dawn and Willow were nice to the bleached vampire. Wesley however was quiet, his face unreadable and Spike was amazed, this Texan brunette who he had never even heard of, had called him family! Nobody had called him family before, it was then he decided crazy or not, soul or no soul he would protect Fred with all he had.

"Yes, family" Fred replied with a hint of steel in her voice, she was sick of loosing her family members and somehow she knew that Spike belonged, it felt right defending him. "Cordy showed me the charts…" she broke off realising whose name she had just spoken aloud. Her heart broke at Angel's expression; she hadn't seen him so cold before this past year, now it seemed to be the only expression he knew. The rest of her family was also tense.

"Fred" Angel began.

"No!" Fred interrupted, she was tired of pussy footing around the subject of Cordy, she knew what Angel was feeling, they all felt betrayed, and guilty. But enough was enough; it was time they dealt with past demons. They had no chance of conquering new ones with the old wounds bleeding them dry.

"Cordy! Cordy! Cordy! There I said her name! I know your hurting we all are but we can't forget her, as much as you try to. She was…IS family I won't forget her, I WON'T pretend she doesn't exist. Not even for you…" she broke off with tears running down her pale face. During her passionate speech she had made her way to Angel's side.

All Angel could do was to draw the skinny Texan into a hug. He couldn't argue she was right, he had been so focussed on his pain he had ignored his family's. Which according to Cordy included Spike, he couldn't help but smile as he thought of Cordy using charts to try and explain his rather confusing family tree to Fred. The rest of the Fang Gang looked on with relief, it was a step, and they were beginning to heal. Or at least acknowledge the issue.

"Hey, where is Cordy?" asked Xander looking at the Fang Gang, as he realised his ex was missing, obviously the scoobies were missing some facts as well. He could tell from the blank faces of his friends that they too were realising that ex May queen was notoriously absent. And from the scene they had just witnessed between Angel and Fred, it was going to be an interesting story. Seeing the pained expressions on the LA group made him pale "She's not…"

"No!" came the shocked replies from the entire Fang Gang.

"She's away, at the moment" Wesley tried to explain diplomatically, the fact that they knew so little about the circumstances that took Cordy away from them was troubling, they had not had the chance to look in to matters. Within 24 hours of stopping Jasmine in LA they were on their way to Sunnydale.

"Away? What do you mean away, I saw her when I was in LA last week? Where'd she go?" Faith asked.

"That wasn't Cordy!" Connor's outburst surprised everyone, he hadn't spoken much before and they had almost forgotten he was there, so far only Willow, Faith and the Fang Gang knew his parentage, he had just been introduced as Connor.

"Of course it was I spoke to her for Goddess' sake" Willow added.

"It's complicated" Fred tried to explain, but how could she explain something they themselves had trouble understanding.

"I don't understand?" Dawn spoke up for the first time, "If Willow didn't speak to Cordelia who did she speak to? And where is Cordy now?"

"Who knows?" Angel grumbled, but was silenced by a glare from Fred. 'When did Fred start scaring me? Angel wondered, he was not looking forward to conversation that was about to start but could not think of a way to get away from it. "God I need a drink"

Everyone turned to Angel, 'Shit did I say that aloud?' Well from Spikes laughter, he apparently did. Wesley simply took a swig from his bottle and pushed it to Angel, who gratefully took a swig and passed it to Gunn who also drank but before he could put the bottle done it was swiped a surprisingly quick Winifred Burkle who immediately took a large swig. Liquid courage was just what she needed. She looked for Lorne knowing that the anagogic demon was gonna need fortification from the vibes that a Cordy related conversation would undoubtedly bring, but Lorne wasn't in the room. Huh? When did he slip out? Then she spotted him returning to the table with a large overnight bag that tinkled. 'He must have gone to the truck' she mused and passed him the bottle of rapidly dwindling whisky. Lorne just shook his green head at the Texan and began unloading almost ten bottles of alcohol from his bag. Seeing this Gunn smiled got up and retrieved glasses from the sideboard.

"Good thinking" Charles said to the demon.

"Please, once I heard we were roadtrippin' to hell, I knew I couldn't go through another apocalypse with you people sober. Hell being in the same room as Angelcakes drives me to drink." Lorne replied as he took a long sip of his neat Vodka and quickly began mixing drinks, from the auras at the table alone he knew the only way he'd sleep tonight is if drank himself into a stupor. He passed out drinks to Angel, Wes, Gunn and Fred. Connor went to grab himself a glass but it was swiped by Angel, who gave him a look. To everyone surprise he passed the drink to Spike. Fred beamed at Angel who just gave her a small smile.

Buffy just stared at them, she couldn't believe it. "What's with the booze? We're trying to find out about Queen C, God don't tell me the bitch has driven you all to drink and you sent her to Hawaii, so she's sunbathing while were trying to save the world." Buffy didn't mean to be harsh, but the unexpected arrival of her ex, and the change in him was just too much. Nobody was the way they were supposed to be Giles and Angel shouted at her, Wes seemed cold and a little scary, Willow was way too friendly with Faith, and there was a green demon mixing cocktails next to their research against the First. But what worried her the most was the fact that these obviously strong people (they had just averted an apocalypse) were resorting to alcohol, just for a conversation about Queen C. What the hell was going on? She jumped back as Connor lunged for her, and was brought back to the present. The Fang Gang looked at with cold anger in their eyes, Gunn was holding back Connor, but looked like he wanted to attack her himself, Lorne grabbed Fred's arm and Angel, his postured was so rigid he looked ready to snap. Buffy was confused what they were so pissed about.

"Don't ever call Cordy a bitch again" said Angel barely holding back his vampiric visage.

Buffy looked at the scoobies who looked shocked at the groups volatile reaction. Then Gunn spoke up his tone filled with unrestrained anger "Don't insult Cordy in front of us, ever. You're surrounded by people who would die for her."

"More importantly, we'd kill for her." The cool statement from Wesley who hadn't moved a muscle drew a gasp from the scoobies. All except Faith hadn't witnessed Wesley's new icy demeanour. At Wesley's statement the fang gang sat back down. He then began with the help of Gunn, Fred and Lorne to briefly outline what had happened to Cordelia, or what little they knew. Angel and Connor were mirrored in their stony silence.

"So you defeated this evil power masquerading as Cordelia, stopped the apocalypse and came here. But you have seen the real Cordelia for almost a year." Anya summarised in her abrupt manner.

"Wow" came the quiet whisper from Willow, who looked shocked,

"So where has she been? Where is she now? Do you even know?" Dawn asked.

"We think she's been working with the powers" came Fred's hesitant answer.

"You think!" Faith exclaimed, you haven't checked, she asked Angel directly.

"We only just realised that it wasn't her, and before that the betrayal…" Angel broke off.

"It just hurt too much" Connor added quietly.

Everyone just sat, and tried to absorb everything they had learnt in the space of a few hours.

"Why don't you guys unpack, Faith and I prepared your rooms earlier, and we can talk and strategise so more tomorrow" Willow offered in her considerate manner.

They all took off to unpack, patrol, research and train respectively when all of sudden Angel's voice could be heard booming from upstairs…

"SPIKE!"

A/N: I know still no Cordy yet. But Queen C needs an entrance don't you think?

I know Buffy seems uncharacteristically harsh, but she was like that in the middle of season 7, she will mellow, it just takes time. Please take the time to review, just to say that you're reading. So that I know I'm not the only one that is reading this now. FYI: this is my first fanfic, if you have any pointers let me know. Thanks Inara.


	3. Chapter 2

Title: Unappreciated

Author: Inara

Rating: R (may go up to NC-17)

Pairing: C/A (not at first), F/G, B/S, D/C, and major C/S friendship

Email: Action/Angst/Romance

Summary: The Fang Gang goes to Sunnyhell to help with the first, the Scoobies are losing, Cordy's back and she isn't happy, and the apocalypse is a comin'. Can they save the world, or even stay in the same room? Tune in to find out.

Spoilers: All of AtS season 4, and BtVS season 7 (read AN)

Disclaimer: Angel: The series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Joss Whedon. David Greenwalt and Co. Fox, Mutant Enemy and whomever else Joss says it belongs to. I'm just taking the characters out of the box to play with for a little while, will put them back as I found them, promise. No infringement or breaking of any laws intended.

Distribution: (FSB), AO, anywhere else just email me first and it's yours.

Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated, will try and make this fic as interactive as readers want.

Thanks to cursed girl and Logan alpha30 my first reviewers, Mysticwolf1 (thanks for your comments; they do help in reminding me to be balanced in my portrayals. The reason Buffy is more OOC than anyone else is that I'd like to get the issues out of the way (or at least her issues with Angel, plenty of Spuffy issues to come), most of Angel's problems with Buffy here are because of Cordelia, its just misdirected anger. I do agree Buffy was and is an important part of Angel's life, but he's extremely bitter in my fic mainly due to the powers and their meddling. In my opinion most of the angst related issues that occur in AtS or BtVS are because they don't talk! Well not to each other. And Cordy won't get a warm welcome from Angel; I want their relationship to start like it was after Angel's beige period. So if you or anyone else has helpful comments email me and let me know. And a major thanks to Lea for all your help.

I will try to update every day or so. Let me know if I make any faux pas, I am for lack of a better term a fanfic writing virgin (god that sounds awful) but true lol. I won't be replying to any reviews in the story after this as I don't want to break any rules. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to email me at and I'll reply to that directly. Please no flames though if I unintentionally cause offence to anyone I apologise, if you don't like this story all I ask is don't read it.

On to the story…finally Cordy.

**Chapter 2:**

_Somewhere in Central LA, in a derelict church:_

'Cold, why am I cold? And stiff, where the hell am I?' Cordelia Chase opened her eyes with difficulty. 'Looking around she quickly analysed the situation she found herself in. 'They left me on a stone alter in the middle of what looks to be an abandoned church!' how dare they! Her grievances against her family were stacking up! 'Didn't they even care, it was still her body!' Personal issues have to wait, she was here to do a job, avert an apocalypse, make sure the key and destroyer survive said apocalypse, chaperone aforementioned key and destroyer to ensure they don't inadvertently bring about the end of the world. After that she could rant and rave at her family and most importantly her stupid manpire. She wasn't really angry at her family, just disappointed, and hurt. But then she was honest enough to realise her part in everything, they were all to blame, except Connor. First though she needed clothes, transportation and funds. The first she could find at the hotel, and from there all she needed was the phone number for a Mr. David Nabbit, the billionaire gave millions to charity every year, well this year the white hats needed funding for the fight against the apocalypse. 'Hmm I wonder if that's tax deductible.'

3 hours later…

After making arrangements with David, who had graciously agreed to help, much to Cordelia's embarrassment he paid for everything even as far as a makeover, she didn't realise until she walked past a mirror in David's apartment that her hair had grown past her shoulders and had reverted back to it's natural mahogany state.

Cordy also found that her year in the higher realms had honed her existing power's and developed powers that she didn't even know she possessed, one of these new powers was the ability to sense, Connor and Dawn were especially strong, probably because they were her primary charges. Using her sensing ability Cordelia could tell that Connor and Dawn and probably everybody else was at the Crawford Street mansion, a good site for base she thought to herself. With this knowledge David and Cordelia arranged for a variety of supplies to be delivered to the mansion at regular intervals, ranging from magic supplies to medicinal and from food, blood and clothes to weapons. Cordelia calculated that there would be nearly 40 people based at the mansion, she didn't think any of the others would think of necessary requirements of essentially supporting a mini army, they would be preoccupied by the first evil. So Cordelia used one of her original talents she shopped. She also decided that she would pay a visit to Rondell never hurt to have back up she thought to herself she also decided to have supplies sent to Rondell's base they would need them as well, and Rondell and his crew would a good second line of defence if they failed in Sunnydale.

One hour after meeting Rondell and promising to update him and to tell Gunn to call him Cordy was on her way to the hellmouth in her new all terrain jeep another courtesy of David (that man was a godsend), for a brief moment she thought about a cute little roadster but her common sense over road her thoughts, roadster would look good but it wasn't appropriate to fight the minions of hell. She took with her the supplies she could round up in LA, her personal belongings and weapons, the first shipment of supplies would arrive in the morning. As it was she wouldn't arrive in Sunnydale until after sunset. She just hoped that she had enough strength to survive the night. A reunion with her family in front of the Scoobies was not her idea of fun.

_Sunnydale: the morning after the night before._

Beep. Beep. Beep.

BANG!

'That's better' thought Willow, she'd need a new alarm clock but at least destroying her current alarm clock was cathartic if nothing else. Goddess was she tired, not for the first time in her life did she truly detest her role of peacemaker 'I went evil! For Goddess' sake, I've killed, flayed alive even, tried to destroy the world. Yet I'm still the peacemaker'. Willow wasn't normally this morose in the mornings, she tried to be positive, she missed Tara, and had to control her magic every second but she did it with a smile on her face, for Tara. But not even the thought of Tara would make this morning happy. Actually she defy anyone to wake up happy after spending the better part of night calming down a furious and possessive Angel and trying to stop his from painfully killing Spike. Her thoughts turned back to last night…

"_SPIKE!" Angel roared, as he stomped downstairs._

_Spike couldn't stop himself from stepping back, the poof a little to like Angelus for him to control the fear that Angelus had spent decades instilling in him._

"_What? I didn't do anything! Christ Peaches you only just went upstairs" he tried to appease the enraged vampire._

_Willow looked at the two vampires and realised that only a couple of potentials and the 'brain trust' were left in the room, Buffy and Faith took a group of Potentials patrolling Spike was left guarding the mansion. Damn that meant she had to sort out this new development, she was the only one available the others were knee deep in research._

"_My Room" was Angel's only reply to Spike's query._

"_Oh" a look of understanding crossed Spike's face, "I tried to explain but…"_

"_You need to educate your chit better William" Angel's cold tone raised the hairs on Willow's arm and caused Spike to flush slightly._

"_You were together how long? I thought after dating one vampire Buffy would understand, and she does but…"_

"…_she doesn't think the rules apply to her" Angel finished off for him, he knew it wasn't that big of a deal, but it was another part of his life that was taken away from him, again without his consent._

"_I don't understand, Angel what's the matter, don't you like the room I set up for you? I know it's not much." Willow's soft spoken reply got Angels attention and brought back from the edge again._

"_It's not that Willow, I appreciate the effort you've made for us really I do, but I already have a room here but it's currently occupied by Buffy." Angel said trying to explain._

"_But what's that got to do with Spike?" Dawn's comment surprised the three of them; the two vampires at least should have noticed her approach. _

"_And before when you first came, you went straight for Spike, you even ignored Buffy." Willow added seeing what Dawn had noticed._

"_Is it because Spike's your childer? And he should know better. The rest of us are allowed to be ignorant, but Spike ignoring your status as Master is like a challenge. Is that it?" Dawn offered, she had been thinking about Angel's behaviour for most of the evening, well his and Wesley's. Wesley's new attitude would take a while to get used to._

_Angel was amazed at Dawn's insight, she had managed to see what everyone else had missed, including her sister whose business it was to know. He made a mental note to keep an eye on Dawn, and to tell Wes in the morning, she could be useful. He doubted whether anyone noticed that Dawn had grown up._

"_I wasn't challenging him!" Spike replied quite defensively and "how did you know all that, if you've been talking to strange vampires"_

_Ignoring the strange vampires comment, he really was over protective of Dawn sometimes. Willow asked "yes, how did you know all that stuff"._

_Dawn just rolled her eyes, "God, I do read you know. So was I right about Spike I mean." She asked Angel_

"_Yes, to a degree. Vampires are territorial and possessive creatures, Master vampires more so. To see my property being trespassed is hard for my demon to ignore. Spike may not like me but he should at least respect my position as Master of our Order." He said with a glare a Spike so he understood. Angel decided that he would educate one of the Summer's sisters to avoid more misunderstandings._

"_So what do you want to do about the room?" Willow asked getting back to the problem at hand. She could feel a migraine coming on, she was grateful that Buffy was absent, the blonde slayer seemed proficient in pissing of Angel and his tolerance of her 'mistakes' were at an all time low._

"_It's alright Willow I'll stay in the new room." It's too late anyway Angel thought privately, Buffy's scent was all over the master bedroom. It angered him that he felt guilty about Buffy's scent on the same bed as him, like he was cheating on C- Damn it! So much for not thinking about her. His private musings were cut short as the patrol group entered bruised and bloody._

Willow had spent the rest of the night, taking care of a dozen injured girls, they were mainly bruised the worse injuries were some cracked ribs and a broken wrist, thank the Goddess. They also updated the map to mark the new area that the ubervamps were fought against in. Then after all that the core scoobies and the now unpacked Fang Gang had a 'discussion' on what to do next, Giles frustrated when the discussion escalated into a yelling match between Buffy and Kennedy told everyone to go to bed and that they would finish the meeting in the morning. So at 1.45am Willow Rosenberg fell into bed only to hear her 7am alarm go off. She was not looking forward to the meeting today.

The meeting was surprisingly civil and most of all productive. The Fang Gang were happy to focus on something other than their own angst, and the Scoobies were buoyed by the Fang Gang's help. Fresh blood and a new perspective really did help. They divided their forces into 3 groups: Research/Magic with Giles, Wesley, Willow, Anya, Lorne and Dawn. Buffy, Spike, Faith and Angel would train the potentials and patrol. Gunn, Xander, Connor, Fred and Andrew would concentrate on creating weapons and defences. Both Gunn and Connor had lived under attack, Gunn on the streets with his crew and Connor in Quortoth. Fred's genius and time in Pylea coupled with Xander's construction abilities meant that they could focus on keeping everyone safe in the base as well as creating weapons to help with the fight against bringers and ubervamps. This left Buffy, Faith, Spike and Angel free to train the potentials, the groups were flexible so that they could rotate members, Fred could research and Gunn or Connor could train potentials so that Angel or even Andrew could cook. But the creation of a system boosted moral, the white hats began to feel like they were actually doing something in the fight against the first evil.

The rest of the day was spent with everybody acquainting themselves with each other, or in some cases reacquaint themselves.

Wes and Molly had a heartfelt reunion, both felt happier knowing that they weren't alone in their grief. For Molly, did Wesley's softer side show. The only tense moments occurred when Molly asked why Wesley hadn't contacted them for nearly a year, no Christmas or birthday cards. To which Wes replied that he had been extremely busy whilst unconsciously touching the scar on his neck. The most awkward moment occurred when Molly innocently asked where he got the scar on the neck from. Wesley's reply of "from my own stupidity" left the room in a stunned silence, then Gunn spoke up "You made a mistake Wes, forgive yourself already, we have." Gunn comment elicited a soft "have you?" from Wes who looked stunned, the two former best friends exchanged small smiles, back on the path of true brotherhood.

When Angel replied "yes, Wesley we have. I haven't forgotten, I don't think I ever can, but if you had been right…I understand you trying to do the right the thing and failing in the process." The relief on Wesley's face was obvious, and both Fred and Lorne had broad grins.

"I don't understand, what mistake?" Anya's question reminded the Fang Gang that they were not alone in the room.

The next hour was spent with the Fang Gang explaining Connor's existence from conception to his sending Angel to a watery grave. They left nothing out, painful as it was they learnt their lesson about secrets being bad. The scoobies were shocked, but not as much as expected. They calmly asked questions and seemed to accept Connor's existence as one of the many bizarre things in their world. Angel was relieved, he was honestly worried about how the Scoobies would treat Connor once they knew. Connor was still fragile, and had slowly begun to accept Angel as his father. Angel even thought Connor looked amused and slightly pleased when Angel refused Connor any alcohol. The fact that Angel had the opportunity to act like a father was not lost to both. They appreciated moments like that, as they didn't often occur.

Willow and Faith had matching expressions of relief, they didn't like keeping secrets, but they didn't know how to approach the situation. Giles was still absently obsessing on 'Vampires can reproduce', Xander was shocked, ironically he was shocked that he **wasn't **shocked. Dawn however was in deep thought, she could not deny that she found Connor attractive, but she had felt connected to him. He felt like 'kindred' but not, she didn't understand, the fact that he been raised in a hell dimension and grew up in a matter of weeks was comforting probably because she thought to herself I'm not the only 'miracle' anymore. She looked at Connor who was standing against the wall, with his arms crossed defensively across his chest, she sent him a small smile, he looked at her with a confused expression. To which she replied "So you're the miracle child huh," he nodded warily, "I was an ancient ball of mystical energy that could used as key in and out of dimensions, some monks sent me to the slayer in the form of a sister for protection." The Fang Gang looked amazed at her blasé attitude, Connor gave a true smile and said "Cool".

"Angel can we talk? Upstairs." Buffy's comment broke the teenager moment.

"Sure." They both left the table and went to Buffy's Room.

"So."

"So." Angel replied.

"We should really talk more, you know. At least births, deaths and marriages." She tried to break the atmosphere with humour.

"I know you're upset and you have every right to be but…"

"Angel I'm not upset, well not at you having a child with Darla" she amended as she scrunched her nose at Darla's name. "God Angel, you had a child you never thought possible and lost him due to a betrayal from your best friend all in a year, and you didn't call, I could have helped." Buffy explained.

For the first time since he had arrived in Sunnydale Angel saw the Buffy he fell in love with, the girl that lived her life according to what was best for the world and her friends. He gave her a small smile of relief. "I know you could've, but Buffy when Connor was born we were so busy protecting him from the people trying to kill him, I mean there were cults that wanted to worship him, some wanted to kill him, Wolfram and Hart wanted to dissect him. God Buffy there was a site on the internet auctioning him! And for the first time in my life I had this truly innocent creature that I loved unconditionally, was loved by and had to protect from the world I fight in. I was so scared but…"

"but what, you could have called, I would have helped." Buffy once again tried, if things were that bad why hadn't he called?

"I know, but C-Cordelia reminded me, that Connor was relying on me, and that I had a family I could rely on. And we were happy Buffy, for the first time in a long time my family was happy. But then we lost everything, I lost everything." Angel finished off.

"I understand, actually I don't, the closest I have is Dawn, and when Glory took her I was catatonic, so I'm in no place to judge. But I'm here now, if you need a friend that is. I think it's about time we started talking to each other. We've known each other nearly 7 years have we even had a conversation that wasn't about slaying or our relationship in so form." Buffy said with a slight grin.

"You're right, I appreciate the offer but my head is a confusing place right now. Buffy we don't have any issues, what I'm trying to say is that my problems aren't about you and I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you, but I've changed." Angel replied.

"I can see that Angel, you've grown…"

"I'm NOT FAT, its muscle damn it!" Angel interrupted her.

Buffy was stunned, then she burst out laughing at his hurt expression. She couldn't help it, she had never seen this side to Angel before, this insecure and to be honest slightly dorky Angel. "…as a person, you've grown as a person Angel. I swear I wasn't calling you fat. Why did someone say…" she broke off, never in a million years did she think she would be having a conversation with Angel about his weight.

"It's all the 'big dumb vampire' and 'big fat vampire' comments, I mean I don't have a reflection so…but I don't think that…I exercise" he finished lamely.

Buffy however was in tears, she couldn't believe it, but then she felt sorry for him "No of course you're not fat Angel, who said…"

"Cordelia" the expression on Angel's face was unreadable.

"Oh, so.." she left it open not quite sure of how to broach the obviously sensitive topic with the vampire.

Angel however decided to change the subject completely "So why aren't you with Spike? He has a soul now."

For not the first time since the conversation began Buffy was lost for words "how did you…what?"

"I'm still the Master of my Order, Buffy I get updates on all members regularly, as for Spike's soul, that I could sense when I first looked into his eyes. So what's the problem? Did he do something? Do you want me to beat him up for you?" Angel for the first time in a while felt light hearted, other peoples problems tended to do that.

"It's complicated, but we'll sort it out." Buffy said defensively, ignoring Angel's teasing.

"As long as it doesn't affect…" Angel began

"Angel you know me better than that." Buffy reprimanded him.

"Ok so truce I won't get involved in your business with Spike and you…" Angel offered a compromise.

"And I won't bring up Cordelia…deal?" she counter offered.

"Deal." Angel accepted.

They both returned downstairs with lighter hearts.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

**Sunnydale:**

Seeing that the champions had reached an understanding the group were relieved, Buffy had even had a brief conversation with Connor (about weapons), whilst watching Spike and Angel spar. The two vampires fought with an unnatural speed and grace, they're familiarity with each others style turned their sparring almost into a dance. Slowly all the potentials began to watch as well, sensing their audience Angel and Spike turned their sparring into a lesson, showing with expertise how to watch their opponent's movements and counter appropriately.

During the impromptu lesson, Wesley was one the phone to one of his many contacts in LA, he was ordering materials that he had left in LA and passing on orders for research to be undertaken. He demeanour had changed, his somewhat relaxed posture stiffened and his tone became hard and unyielding. Both Faith and Willow noticed the change almost immediately the former had witnessed the 'darker' Wesley in LA during their Angelus hunt, but she felt powerless in stopping his descent. To observe her former watcher darken in front of her eyes hurt, she would never admit it but Wesley's strength during her torture gave the slayer something to aim for. He had unwittingly helped her change as much as Angel had, she wanted to… no she needed to help him in return. She just didn't know how, she didn't even know how to approach him. The witch could also see similarities in the ex-watcher, she recognised the guilt and recriminations, she had lost her naiveté and innocence too, she privately wondered how anyone could hold onto such luxuries in their line of business, Xander was probably the closest, he helped her to remember what she was living for and fight for. But observing Wesley she couldn't help but wonder who in this time of darkness could show him the light he was fighting for. Where was his best friend?

Fred felt like crap, actually feeling like crap would probably be an improvement on what she felt, the only thing that made the morning bearable was the fact that Wesley was closer to the family, she was so proud when Gunn made overtures of forgiveness and Angel reinforced them. But no making up in the world would make up for her hangover, the little gremlins in mind her hadn't stopped picking at her brain since she woke, she now remembered why she stopped drinking Lorne's mixtures, his dosage had increased as the 'year from hell' (as she privately called it) went on. But she had to help, to research, so bravely tried to decrypt the book in front of her. She didn't notice that the sounds of sparring from behind her had stopped for a while now. The movement of the two vampires made her feel even more nauseous so she turned her back to them. All of a sudden glass of brown murky liquid was placed in front of the book with blurry text.

"Here you are luv'" the blonde vampire announced grandiosely. He had noticed the poor chit's state since she stumbled downstairs earlier. Once he had finished sparring with his grandsire and Angel had conscripted Connor and Buffy to help him, Spike had decided to take pity on girl who had called him family 12 hours earlier. So went in to the poof's kitchen and whipped up his secret hangover remedy and placed it in front of the tiny Texan.

"Huh, what…Spike?" Fred questioned miserably.

"Drink it, it'll make you feel better…don't ask what's in it, trust me pet you don't want to know." Spike offered with an uncharacteristic kindness (to anyone but Dawn).

Giles watched out of the corner of his eye as the willowy Texan took a long, deep glance at the vampire and seeing something in him she took the glance and drank the ambiguous concoction in one go, finishing with an unlady like screech of disgust. She looked at Spike with tears in her eyes, who to Giles surprise gave her a mint to take the aftertaste away. She accepted quickly and then much to the surprise of himself and the vampire she quickly embraced him, kissed him chastely on the cheek and muttered thanks. She then returned to her book, researching now with a much clearer head. Giles saw the bleached vampire still standing behind Fred looking dumbfounded until he noticed the elder watcher's eyes on him, he then went back to working with the potentials. As Giles' gaze followed him, his attention went straight to his slayer who was now sparring with Connor, he blinked the boy was fast, too fast in fact. Even Buffy was working hard almost at full slayer capacity but both warriors were still aware that they were practising. Giles had been beyond amazed when he heard about Connor's parentage. A human child born of two vampires, a child of good created from two of the most evil vampires in the council's history. But he had grown more practical since his assignment on the hellmouth seven years ago. Giles was amazed and the watcher inside him would have jumped at the chance to research Connor, but at present Giles was just grateful that Connor was on their side and available to fight.

The weight on his shoulders had thankfully lightened since the group from LA had arrived yesterday. He hadn't realised how much stress he had taken on until Wesley had taken half the burden. Giles was incredibly competent but all his American contacts were at least a year old, and Wesley already has a network of informants and suppliers that ranged up and down California. The loss of the council affected him more than he let on, the council had been a permanent presence in his life, the sheer fact that it was destroyed scared him more than he liked. Added to the loss of potentials which was heartbreaking, he was almost at breaking point with the extra responsibility of 20 potentials, Faith and the Scoobies. The introduction of the LA gang gave the Scoobies the respite they desperately needed, especially Buffy, Faith, Willow and himself. He realised his mind had wondered off the topic at hand and went back to his list of supplies to have picked up from his shop by Anya. It was still a mess from the structural damaged incurred from Willow's anger but they were still plenty of supplies there.

**Outskirts of Sunnydale:**

Cordy's jeep was parked at the top of the embankment overlooking Sunnydale, she was sitting on the front of the jeep watching the town as the sun steadily set to her west. It was a breathtaking sight part of her didn't want to leave, after all the arguing and pleading with the Powers That Be, she was so close but she was terrified. It had been so long, and god knows a lot had happened. The closer she had got to Sunnydale the more nervous she got, in the end she had to pull over at the embankment. The irony was not lost on her she had spent a lot of time here in her sophomore year on various dates (it was a prime make out spot), before she started hanging out with the Scoobies. Now here she was almost 7 years later, too scared to face her family. Sure they had hurt her, but hadn't she done the same? Fate had played them all, but she couldn't forget the role her decision on her birthday had played. Or her decision to go on vacation with Groo, in her absence so much had happened, or was it **because **of her absence, she didn't know. So many mistakes and she didn't know how to fix them, but she had too! They were fighting against the First Evil, who wouldn't hesitate to exploit a weakness. They seem to have too many. So here she sat watching a beautiful sunset, fall on a town that was famous for its high mortality rates. The irony of something so beautiful could be a signal for death wasn't lost on her. No that seemed to be a theme in her life, beauty and pain, visions and death.

"Pretty Sunset…so what are you waiting for? An invite?"

Cordelia's poetical and rather morbid musings were brought short by the appearance of her demon guide. She didn't even spare him a glance but carried on her scrutiny of the sunset.

"So is this gonna be one of stoic moments, didn't think you were one for stoic, bitch…yes, stoic…no."

"Skip"

"Cordelia"

"How's the family?"

"Good, how's yours?" Skip bantered back easily. After they're work together in training and in the Jianxing dimension, they had a comfortable if unique relationship. "Of course you'd had to have seen them to be able to tell me."

She shot Skip a guilty look; she swallowed "It's hard."

"Why?" He simply asked.

"What if they hate me? What if they don't want me?" She asked with an unsure tone.

"What if they need you," Skip replied. He wasn't used to an insecure Cordelia Chase, he was so used to her dealing with everything she had thrown at her, he forgot how truly young she was. It was at times like these that reminded him that she was only 22. Higher being or human she was heartbreakingly young. Unfortunately she had been born into what seemed to be an age of prophecies; her generation seemed to have the misfortune of existing in apocalyptic era. But they had overcome many obstacles, and so had she he just hoped that this task did not break his partner.

Skip's blunt reply shocked Cordy out of her melodrama, he was right. Cordelia Chase did not wallow, and she did **NOT **sit on a hill, watch a sunset because she was afraid of family. She would face her family, confront their problems and defeat the First Evil. With that she got off her jeep, kissed Skip and thanked him. Grateful that her guide came when she was lost and feeling less alone she drove to her family, she had some apologies to make and to hear. A shiver ran through her and all of sudden she had a premonition; it wasn't going to be that easy.

**At the mansion:**

It was half an hour to sunset when Buffy, Angel, Faith and Spike took patrols out, they each took 4 potentials and patrolled the town, Buffy's group took the town centre, Angel's the docks, Faith took the residential area and Spike's group were patrolling the cemeteries. Connor and Gunn were training the remaining girls and guarding the mansion.

Fred was working on her current project, which were mini catapults and something else deadly whilst Xander was busy pouring holy water into various perfume bottles and sprays. Dawn, Anya and Andrew were in the kitchen cooking for when the patrolling groups got back in with Lorne serenading them as they cooked. Giles had just finished reading Wes' notes on the Nyazian Scrolls and was quizzing Wes on parts, they were trying to decode whether or not this current apocalypse was one of the ones mentioned in the scrolls. Willow was researching to see if any spells could be of use, but was disheartened as all of the spells required her to tap into greater magics than what she felt comfortable handling so when the doorbell rang she was happy to answer. It took three steps for her to wonder 'who on earth would ring the doorbell? I didn't even know there was a doorbell." Even as the witch was wondering her feet took her to the front door.

"Hi can I help you?…**GODDESS…CORDY?" **

**  
A/N Sorry it took me so long to update, I was slightly disheartened to the lack of response and needed a break from writing everyday. So I took a step back, I was also at a pivotal stage in the story and I didn't know how to reintroduce Cordy and keep everyone happy. I know this chapter was mostly filler, but god was it hard to write, I just wanted to give a sense of the day to day in fighting against an apocalypse. The following chapters should be about Cordy's return to the group, and her relationship with them on a one on one basis. Keep on reviewing I like to know if this is worth writing. I've also left some comments on the review page for the questions raised in reviews…that means you MysticWolf and you J. Hope you enjoy the chapter…let me know. **

**Thanks, Inara**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about my pathetic AN at the end of the last chapter, I was slightly depressed as you could probably tell, but I've since been smacked into shape and after consuming vast quantities of alcohol and chocolate, I am back to my quasi normal self. This story WILL carry on, frankly because I want to have a complete piece of work for myself. So anyway, apologies for being moronic and self absorbed in my previous AN. This chapter should start the 'oh shit she's back!' part of my fic, WARNING I may decide to take some liberties to Cordy's physical and mental state as well as her powers (We've never had a fully functioning Power on the show, so I can't be ruining canon).**

**PS Thanks to Ronnie3 for putting my story on your Favourite Stories list, my first. It's an honour. For the purpose of this fic Cordy editorialised the events in 'Birthday' when she told the FG what happened, they only know that unless she became part demon she would have died. (They were unclear in what she actually told them in AtS). Well here's what you've been waiting for…**

(Previously)

_Willow was researching to see if any spells could be of use, but was disheartened as all of the spells required her to tap into greater magics than what she felt comfortable handling so when the doorbell rang she was happy to answer. It took three steps for her to wonder 'who on earth would ring the doorbell? I didn't even know there was a doorbell." Even as the witch was wondering her feet took her to the front door._

"_Hi can I help you?…**GODDESS…CORDY?" **_

**Chapter Four:**

**Sunnydale:**

At Willow's exclamation the Scoobies and the Fang Gang in the mansion froze whilst the potentials noting the adult's reactions tensed and moved in to slight defensive positions. All of a sudden there was a loud **SMACK **as Fred's mini catapult released a bag of flour whose unfortunate trajectory ended at Connor's face. Nobody knew what to do, until Dawn burst out into laughter at the sight of 'The Destroyer' covered in flour, whilst Fred jumped up like a frightened rabbit and started to apologize and brush off the flour which only succeeded in spreading the flour further over Connor. At which Gunn snorted, but took pity on the young man and gathered his girlfriend into his arms. During the commotion Lorne, Anya and Andrew came out of the kitchen. However Lorne's frightened shriek of "Princess" drew everybody's attention back to the brunette at the door, whose only movement had been a single raised eyebrow at the comedy scene she had just witnessed.

"What? How? Cordy?" Willow still could not get her head around the fact that Cordy was standing on their doorstep as if nothing had happened or was going on.

"Hi, Willow. Yes it's me, er can I come-"

"-Wait. Hold up! How do we know it's not a trick! You know been there, done that, people died"

Cordy's heart broke at Gunn's words, intellectually she knew they had a right to wonder, to ask. She'd be the same, it was one of the things she had in common with Gunn, they were natural protectors and he had already failed once, she knew he wouldn't fail again. But it still broke her heart. However other than a slight gasp, there was no reaction from the former may queen of Sunnydale. She took a deep breath "and exactly how do you want me to prove it! Charles Gunn. I'd thought you'd at least let me through the threshold before attacking me." With her trademark eyebrow raise she stood her ground. She didn't mean to be a bitch, but a much as she wanted to throw herself in to Gunn's strong arms and apologise till dawn, she knew that he expected her strength, needed it even.

"Oh, of course, sorry" Willow broke the silence. "Come in".

As Cordy entered she took the room in at a glance, noticing Dawn and Connor (still covered in flour) she let out a small unnoticeable sigh on relief, being away from her charges, was dangerous. Without comment the adult's sat around the table as the potentials took up positions around the room, it was a natural movement, which told Cordelia that patterns were beginning to emerge, those actions showed Cordelia that the two groups (three if you count the potentials) were beginning to work together instinctively. It was a good sign. She took the hint and took the only seat left. It didn't surprise her that the empty seat was isolated and the others had assembled together. She got the not so subtle message; she was in essence on trial, for her life and more importantly her family.

"As much as we would like to believe you Cordelia, you can understand our need to be cautious" Giles began in his placatory manner. But Cordelia only had eyes for her family, who she needed to convince, she spoke to Wesley directly "You could have Lorne read me, but that didn't work last time or you could ask me questions, something only I would know" she offered options. With Wesley she needed logic, once he believed they all would. Well except for Angel but she was trying not to think of him.

On seeing Lorne's face at Cordelia's suggestion (not surprising as reading Cordelia often resulted in a concussion for the green demon, and coupled with the fact that Evil Cordy had tried to kill him) Wesley decided that asking questions may be the best way to start. "I think questions, would probably satisfy the problem, who wants to start?"

"What did I give you for Valentines Day?" Xander quickly asked.

Cordelia gave a small smile as she reminisced about that eventful day, "A silver heart locket that you took back so that you and Amy could cast a love spell. Which duh- backfired?"

Xander beamed, Willow blushed as she remembered her actions on that day.

Wesley was heartened by the answer, he decided to ask her a mundane question as he theorised that if another entity was again masquerading as Cordy, then wouldn't bother with the insignificant details. "How do I like my tea?"

"With 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar and a drop of milk." She shot back.

"How did Angel calm down Connor as a baby?" Fred asked quietly, the table silenced as well, the Fang Gang didn't speak about Baby Connor much, and it was still painful how they lost everything.

Cordy, sniffled at the bittersweet memory Fred's question evoked. "His Game face, Connor would only quieten when Angel went into his Game face".

At this Cordelia made eye contact with Connor for the first time since she entered the mansion. She was scared of his reaction the most, he had the most reason to hate her, as her double was truly cruel to the boy. But to her surprise he just gave her the slightest of grins (incidentally still covered in flour), to which she replied with her 1000 watt smile that lit up the room. Fred squealed "She's back! Oh Thank God, Cordy you're back!" She ran over to Cordy and hugged her hard, with tears falling unnoticed down her face. Fred was followed only a second later by Wes, Lorne and Gunn. Wrapped up in her family's arms Cordy cried in relief. God had she missed them it had been nearly a year, longer for her as the time she spent in the Jianxing dimension was a lot longer. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry" she wept to her family as apologies were made from all camps.

The Scoobies looked on as the LA group reunited with one of their own, Dawn couldn't help but notice that group felt and looked complete now (with the exception of the ensouled vampire). However after 5 minutes they separated and Cordelia looked at Connor hesitantly, he looked back just as nervously. She rolled her eyes "For God Sakes hug already, I want my turn!"

Cordelia needed no further encouragement as she took the boy to her arms, "Oh Connor, I forgot how big you got" she exclaimed and she couldn't stop her tears nor the motherly kiss on the forehead as she checked him over (and attempt to remove some of the flour.) Connor's eyes filled, for the first time in his memory had anyone given him any maternal love, he hugged her closer, not wanting to let go.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry, it wasn't me! I promise, she wasn't me! I love you sooo much, I'm so sorry. She was wrong, Darla may have given birth to you, but I always thought of you as mine." Part of Cordelia recognised that she should slow down; neither of them were ready for this conversation, not to mention the company they still had. But now that she had her baby boy in her arms she couldn't stop herself. She wanted and needed to erase want Jasmine had done to him. At Cordelia declaration Connor's heart sang, he had forgiven her as soon as he found out that it was never her, for some reason he was drawn Cordelia, he felt safe with her and at peace, he had done ever since she had cleansed him when he first arrived. It seemed that Cordelia wasn't alone with her lack of control on her words as Connor uttered a heart wrenching "Mom?"

Cordelia's heart sang as did her entire soul at Connor's words, she never knew she could love him more than she already did, but hearing those words for the first time her love reached new heights. Another tear escaped as she realised that Baby Connor probably would've said the same thing about now, if fate hadn't got involved. The rest of the room were watching with awe and tears in their eyes, both Fred and Lorne were openly weeping. As the Fang Gang took control of themselves and sat at the table again (with all the chairs together again) the Scoobies all took their turns in reuniting with Cordelia. Whilst Giles was cleaning his glasses again, Cordy went round to all the potentials (and Andrew) quietly said hello and introduced herself, and learning their names, once she had returned to her seat round two began. Surprisingly it was not either of the watcher's

"So Barbie…where the hell have you been!" Gunn yelled he wasn't exactly renowned for his patience.

"I have been working for the Powers"

"You realise that didn't really answer our question." Wesley replied with edge of amusement lining his voice.

"What do you know about what really happened since I went missing last summer." Cordy asked apprehensively.

"We've guessed or been told that you were tricked into becoming part demon on your birthday, which led to your ascension into the higher realms. And that when you descended (3 months later); your body had been hijacked by a rogue Power named Jasmine. Then in your guise Jasmine attempted to take over the world by giving birth to herself with the help of the beast. After the birth, your body had fallen into a mystical coma. Once we discovered the truth about Jasmine through your blood, Jasmine hid your body. Then Angel and Connor fought and defeat Jasmine and 24 hours later we were in Sunnydale facing yet another apocalypse." Wesley's explanation helped Cordy understand what misconceptions she had to make her family aware of.

"Wow-so that was mostly accurate"

"Mostly?" Fred queried.

"I wasn't tricked into becoming part demon"

"What do you mean you weren't tricked?" Xander exclaimed then quieten under Giles glare but muttered to himself about his ex girlfriends and demons.

"You told us that the Powers That Be gave you 2 options 1) to return to your failing human body and receive the visions until you died or 2) to become part demon to be able to handle the pain. The Power's must have realised that you would choose the second option. You were coerced Cordelia." Wes attempted to understand.

Lorne suddenly got a flash of comprehension, but he still couldn't see the big picture. "Unless, the Powers didn't suggest the demonisation." Wes, Gunn and Fred looked at Cordelia for clarification as Connor still bewildered from his heartfelt reunion with his mom, was trying to catch up with events that occurred when he was a baby.

"Okay, so I may have edited the play of events slightly but-"

"Cordy!" Wes reprimanded.

"Fine, I'm sorry. But it wasn't important." She tried to placate the former watcher but was rudely interrupted by Anya's snort of "obviously it was". Cordy tried to stifle her irritation and carry on, "I was told that my receiving the visions from Doyle were a mistake and that my human body could not sustain them. To rectify their mistake I was given 2 options by Skip on behalf of the Powers on my birthday. Option 1) was what Wes said, death via the back of brains being blown out." Both Willow and Dawn gasped at this piece of information. "Option 2) was my dream life, I was a famous TV star with my show and my life was perfect, in that universe I never encountered Angel at that party in LA. I declined and said that there had to be another way. Then Skip to me to the conduit where I overheard Angel arguing with them to take the visions away, saying 'I wasn't strong enough and that I was just a rich girl from who likes to play Superhero'. At that statement I took option 2) and began my new life. In this alternate universe Doyle had passed on the visions to Angel, who had incidentally been driven insane by the visions. Wes and Gunn were fighting the evil in Angel's visions. But even in my perfect life something felt wrong, and my instincts led me to Angel, and then I remembered my real life with you guys and I took my visions back and told Skip to find a loophole because my purpose in life included the visions. That's when the topic of demonisation came up, and I accepted. So my decision is what ultimately let Jasmine back into this world.

The table was stunned at the revelations revealed by Cordelia's speech. Whilst most of them were still coming to terms with what they had been told Dawn spoke up, "That still doesn't tell us where you were this past year, or what you were doing?"

"I was in the higher realms, and some other dimensions. I never wanted to leave my family but I was needed elsewhere. The mission comes first, 'help the helpless' and all that…oh crap… speaking of helpless… Cordelia's eyes began to shine and her body emitted a soft white glow as she received a vision. "Angel's patrol group is in trouble, his group is being overwhelmed at the docks, Gunn, Connor, Wes, Xander you guys need to take the potentials and go help, quickly there's almost 30 assorted demons and uber vamps against one group. Anya get in touch with the others and redirect them to the docks, Angel must have stumbled into one of the points the First Evil is smuggling in more troops. The rest of us will have to get ready for the injured". She snapped out of her trance and shouted "NOW!" as she saw everybody frozen, all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity as they all followed her orders and took off in various directions. She slowly got up and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, she felt drained, the vision wasn't painful but the images were now crystal clear, too precise, she could now see, feel, hear and taste the vision, the experience was not pleasant. But as she saw in her vision, she was needed to help tend to the injured, hopefully her fledgling higher being powers will help heal some of the worse off. Her body mechanically began helping Fred and Lorne set up mini infirmary whilst Dawn and Andrew brought over their meagre supplies.

After 30 minutes or so some of the injured potentials began to trickle in, after that she closed off and just focused on helping and healing whoever was in front of her. She'd lost count of how many potentials and fighter's she had patched up, over a dozen with Dawn, Andrew, Anya and Fred doing basic first aid, Willow and Cordelia were focussed solely on their own patients. Two of the potentials the East Asian girl (If anyone knows her name please let me know as well as the names of any of the other potentials I only know 4, thanks) and Kim, were in bad shape, both Cordy and Willow were using their powers to boost the girls healing and it was rapidly draining both of them. Once Cordy's patient was finally stable she looked around. Astonishingly nobody had died, and rapid healing abilities of some of the fighters meant that situation was not catastrophic, from her corner of the room she could see Buffy helping Willow to drink some water whilst the non combatants were all around the large room tending to the fighters, she decided to try and get up but ended up stumbling into a decorative Ming jar next to her which crashed to the floor and drew the entire room's attention to her. Connor gasped a short "mom" and before Cordy could blink a blur of black had rushed to help her stand, she had time look into the topaz coloured eyes she had loved for so long before passing out into oblivion.

**R & R.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

**Sunnydale:**

Angel stood frozen in the mansion holding an unconscious Cordelia, he looked torn not knowing whether he wanted to drop her or never let her go. Instead he opted to place her exhausted body on the chaise lounge. He was quickly replaced at her side by a concerned Connor, "What's wrong with her? Is she okay? She was fine before…what happened?" his distress was relieved by Lorne who ensured the apprehensive boy that Cordelia had merely overtaxed her personal energy reserves, "she just needs to recharge and then she'll be fine".

"She was fine before? When before? When did she arrive?" Angel's icy tone brought Connor's attention back to the vampire and he remembered that only the researchers, Gunn and himself were present earlier to witness Cordelia's return. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fred approach Angel and lay a soothing hand of his arm, trying to calm the vampire as they all knew he would not take the news well.

"Angel, she just showed up at the door about an hour after you all left earlier. At first Gunn was worried bout her not being Cordy again but we asked her questions and she answered them all right. It's her Angel; she's back, Cordy's finally home." Fred couldn't contain her happiness at the situation, she tried to soften the shock for Angel but her elation was apparent to all. Whereas Angel's senses were still overloaded from holding Cordelia, he could still feel her, smell her. He'd never hated and loved something so much at the same time. He could still see the shock in her eyes as they made eye contact again for the first time in months. He didn't know how to deal with all of the emotions that came with Cordy, and he was too shattered to try, his body ached from the fight earlier that evening, even with his superhuman abilities fighting at a 5:1 ratio was incredibly hard, it was only after Connor, Gunn and Wes came to help with their potentials that he could start an offensive attack as opposed to the defensive he had been forced to, as he tried to protect the girls. Once the other 3 groups had joined the fray the tide turned and the more experienced fighters began to pull together and defeat the demons and hold their lines. Most of the severe injuries came from the start of the fight, the rest of them were covered in bruises and gashes but Angel had been fighting all out for the longest and was beginning to feel the pain. So he decided that he would drink some blood, take a hot shower and go to bed and deal with resurrecting best friends tomorrow, maybe it would be dream…he could only hope. The Fang Gang and Scoobies just watched the stoic vampire shrug off Fred, go into the kitchen, he re-emerged soon and without a glance at anyone went upstairs.

"Damn it! Why isn't he happy? He's supposed to be happy!" The tiny Texan's outburst was coupled with a stomp with her foot. Gunn simply took her in his arms as he watched Cordy recharge. The entire situation was a mess, was he happy-of course, he was ecstatic at Cordy's return but he couldn't help but worried about the timing, the Power's sick sense of humour, to return the one person who had the power to save or destroy his family in the middle of what was shaping up to be hardest apocalypse he'd ever faced. With his human immune system it would take his body day's to be back at full strength, the uber vamps were aptly named.

"Fred, honey give him a break it can't be easy for him, seeing her again."

"Since when has our life been easy? Huh? It's hard for everyone, I know he's hurtin' but I thought he'd care about where she's been, what she's been doing? I mean what could be so important that Cordy left Angel, left us? All that time we've been wondering, and know when we have a chance of finding out he runs away! Like a chicken!" Causing Spike to snort, this chit had called Angelus a chicken, hah, and soul or no soul Angelus always was a fearless bastard.

"Since when has Cordelia told us anything?" Angel's comment caused multitudes of gasps and jumps even Spike was caught off guard by the stealthy vampire. 'That has to be the fastest shower the poof's ever taken'.

"I mean she didn't even tell us she was dying for Christ's sake, Dennis had to tell you remember." Angel finished off savagely.

"Cordelia has never been one to share, I know she talks a lot, but not about the important stuff especially if it has to do with her." Wes added.

"Wesley Wyndham Pryce, I think you are the last person to judge about keeping **SECRETS**, don't you think." Cordelia's voice although under-laced with exhaustion was still heard by the entire room, which had fallen silent at the double intrusion.

At Cordy's statement, Wes flushed, and looked chagrined whereas Angel was surprised at the sudden burst of rage, after all that time of silently worrying and brooding about if she was okay, to see her now standing in front of him with her trademark raised eyebrow, made him angry, didn't she know what they had been through, what **she** had put them through. All that came out was a disinterested "So your back? For how long this time? Nice to know you still remember m-us."

'How dare he' who the hell did he think he was! Cordy thought. After everything she had been through to get here, he was being a jerk! Striving for the same nonchalance as the vampire she bantered back, "Oh you know, just a flying visit, fight an apocalypse, catch up with old friends and the fall collection from the 'House of Choo'."

"Oooh I love Jimmy Choo! He has the best shoes" Anya's outburst received various expressions of shock but that was nothing compared to the shock Cordelia felt at Angel's reply. He had moved right in front of her and with his eyes never leaving hers in a cold tone that surprised even her.

"You and I, we're not friends." said Angel throwing her own heartbreaking words back at her. God could her heart take anymore tonight, she only woke up from her prolonged stay in the higher realms this morning, spent the day organising supplies and discussing logistics, coupled with her first crystal clear vision on earth, finished with an exhausting healing. And that didn't even include all the emotion filled conversations, having to face Angel in this mood was too much. But her soft reply as they locked gazes burned Angel more than those words originally did almost 2 years earlier.

"Were we ever friends? Some days I just don't know. Could… friends do what we did...do to each other?"

Angel was silent; he had thought they were best friends that after everything they had been through together had made them stronger. But would best friends lie about their health? Would they not notice there friend had been replaced by an evil Power? 'Were they ever really friends?' The question haunted his very soul. **'were they ever really friends?'**

**AN:- I am so very sorry about the delay, to be honest I wasn't very happy at all with this chapter, at first I couldn't get the bitter snarky season 2 vibe between Angel and Cordy that I was striving for, then after watching a borrowed version I attempted another draft. However due to the nature of the scene and it's pivotal role I had higher standards set for this moment, I imagined it in so many different ways that I overthought it, in the end (after God knows how many rewrites) I decided to keep it simple, I'd rather have a slow build up of tension than immeadiate fireworks, and I admit to chickening out by having Angel leave the room early but I felt that both he and I needed to step, coupled problems with my broadband and real life intruding I sincerely apologise about the delay, I hope you don't find it anticlimatic (that was a real concern). **

** PS: was I the only author pd off about the hit reset, I was 2 hits away from 700! It really is morale diminshing to see the numbers reset, but at least the problem is fixed. For all I know I could just have a score of enthusiastic readers (and If I do I am grateful). So let me know if your reading this thanks to my new reviewers (pru, Si.crazy and justawritier), your comments made my day. **

** And finally...some of the dialogue was from Disharmony AtS season 2, obviously these are not mine, but they were added specifically, to circle back to those unresolved issues, so this is a mini disclaimer and to state I am aware of similarity, it was a deliberate choice.**

** Thanks for reading, sorry for the delay again, hope you enjoyed the rather short chapter, let me know, you all know how.**

**Sincerely, **

** Inara:)  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**Warning, I know this is classified as M, I did that just incase my story went in directions unknown, I know there hasn't been any M rated content yet, but just incase anybody with deliate sensibilities is reading, there is coarse language in this chapter, the F word is used (Faith, who else). So if that offends please skip it or don't read (It's in Bold) or if you'd rather email me at and I'll send you an edited version. Anyway on with Chapter 6... **

**Chapter 6:**

'We're not friends' God how 3 little words could cause such emotional turmoil in one person. Cordelia experienced a myriad of emotions at Angel's cold remark, anger, pain, fear, despair; she felt them all, simultaneously. But pain seemed to be the overpowering emotion, part of her understood the words, and the purpose behind them, they had a special meaning behind them, after all she used them after Angel left her all those years ago. She recognised that Angel would see her ascension the same way, for the right or wrong reasons she **had **left, she broke her promise. She understood. That didn't stop the sheer volume of pain that came with the words, the fact that Angel had specifically chosen those particular words to **hurt **her, broke her heart. Her rational side knew that Angel had a point, more than one, but she still felt and reacted like a human being, right know she couldn't stop herself from reacting like a hurt woman, she snapped and Angel, well Angel got slapped.

'**SMACK'**

Angel noticed everything and nothing during the few seconds of silence that followed his statement, the first was the brief flash of pain that appeared on Cordelia's face before she could suppress it, he in turn savagely squashed his automatic guilt at causing Cordelia pain, his internal brooding/thoughts were brought to a rather shocking halt as his body registered immediate pain, then rather belatedly he registered that Cordy had slapped him. The shock of the slap released every emotion Angel had repressed since he had found out about 'evil' Cordy and the resulting explosion was like adding napalm to a forest fire, with preternatural speed he was infamous for, he had vamped out and had Cordelia pinned against the wall. He should have backed away, he should have left the room, hell he should have been aware enough to block the slap in the first place, when did she get so quick? So powerful? He should have done a lot of things in the end he did the one thing he shouldn't have, he reacted. "You **really **shouldn't have done that"

Before Cordy could retract her now throbbing hand let alone apologise she found herself trapped against the wall and staring into a pair of feral topaz eyes. 'Uh oh' a tiny part of mind whispered before she could stop herself. But she had seen Angel's vamp face thousands of times before to let it intimidate her, even if she was the sole focus of his intense glare, her rational side was begging her to placate the vampire, to act like an adult, get some space between them and let them both cool off. Her rational side lost, she was tired, she was hurt, she was angry and she was pissed. And when Cordy was pissed she turned into Queen C, so it had been a while since she had reverted to her old high school persona maybe it was Sunnydale bringing out her old human demon whatever the reason Queen C was back.

"You deserved it, hell you deserve…" she began

"Don't talk to me about hell, it's where I've been the last year" his voice sent tremors done her spine, "I was protecting our…**my family **andsaving the world!"

"From World Peace, I heard, great job" the words escaped before she could help it, judging from the snarl and the tightening of his hands against her wrists (where she knew she would have bruises) it wasn't the smart thing to say so she carried on "But you did save the world so…well done, too bad evil had another apocalypse scheduled straight after" 'oh god what am I saying, dear goddess someone shut me up,' she could vaguely her a snort from someone in the room (a blonde English someone).

"yeah well if you hadn't caused the first apocalypse maybe we'd be more rested for this one" Angel's icy reply resulted in a gasp from Fred, and he could imagine both Wesley and Gunn wince at his callous words but Cordy's whole demeanour changed, her spine straightened and froze, her eyes hardened and her jaw was clenched in fury. "That wasn't me; **you **should have known that wasn't me."

"I should have known a lot of things…" he snapped back.

She gasped in pain, but he didn't move, he didn't lessen his grip instead he challenged her with his eyes. She glared back, and then she began to glow. Softly at first but steadily enough to heat up her skin and hurt him back. There eyes were locked on each other both causing each other pain but refusing to yield, to let the other go. It was their weakness.

'**Oh Shit!' 'Fuck' 'Oh Dear Lord' 'Holy Crap' 'What the…'**

The exclamations all ran over another so it was quite impossible to discern who said what. Although Angel and Cordy seemed to have forgotten where they were, they're captive audience most certainly hadn't. The room at large watched the pair argue as though watching the match point at Wimbledon, they witnessed the warrior and seer wound each other verbally, ripping open old wounds and hurting each other as only they could. As anxious as the group was at the verbal battle, their collective heartbeat rose when Angel manhandled Cordelia, so fast that even the superhuman quota of the audience were taken by surprise. However when Angel, tightened his grip painfully causing Cordelia to gasp and glow in retaliation were they truly afraid. At once Spike, Buffy, Faith, Gunn and Wesley sprang to action separating the pair, it wasn't an easy task.

"Woah, Woah, Woah…Timeout guys, back to your corners" Gunn yelled as he, Wes and Faith tried to restrain Cordelia, whereas Spike and Buffy had their hands full with Angel. The rest of the room looked on in confusion and fear; it was Wesley's calm voice that brought the champion and seer back to reality. "Enough, I know you two have many issues that need to be resolved, but not like this, right now we are in the middle of the apocalypse so can you refrain from killing each other until afterwards. Angel, Cordy **is **family, don't forget that, and Cordelia stop baiting Angel, the past year has not been easy on any of us. Now I have had the privilege of seeing the two of you at your best and the worst, you know that together we are unstoppable, so please can we be adult about this and call a truce." The scoobies and the potentials were amazed at how the former watcher calmed the situation down; it wasn't his words but the familiarity of the situation that seemed to decrease the tension. After both Angel and Cordelia had nodded their assent Wesley carried on "Now we were interrupted earlier by you vision Cordelia, but if you're not too tired we still haven't discussed what you did on your…sabbatical, and how you found us".

"I'm fine Wesley, and you're right we have quite a few things to discuss" Cordelia replied, "but I need to clean up, so why don't we meet back here in half an hour and while I take a shower, you can catch the rest up, and the girls can go relax." At Wesley's nod, she picked up her bag and left the room without a single glance at Angel.

**30 minutes later, main room, Crawford Street Mansion**

Andrew and the potentials had gone to relax, and give the adults a chance to catch up at the behest of Giles, Dawn however was currently in the middle of an argument with Buffy, she was determined to stay, but Buffy wasn't sure if she was old enough.

"She stays." Cordelia's voice from the doorway broke the argument. She had brought a tray of drinks in from the kitchen and then returned with a second. 'A peace offering and courage in one' she thought to herself.

"What do you mean she stays? Dawn is my sister; it's up to me if…"

"Dawn, is sixteen, the same age as us when we got dragged into this, she's old enough, and she could help"

"She is my little sister"

"She's an asset or she could be if you let her, anyway she has just as much right to be here too, as it involves her too. She stays"

Buffy just sat down, Dawn who was grateful for Cordy standing up for her muttered a quick thanks and sat next to her sister, and gripped her hand under the table to show her that she was still with her, Cordy witnessed it all with a small smile and started handing out drinks "I thought we could all use a drink, while we rehash everything from the last year" she gave the fang gang their drinks, Spike and Angel their blood and apologised to the others for not knowing their preference and handed out the rest. She didn't want to admit it but she had shed a tear whilst preparing their drinks, it had been such a normal act that she had missed so much.

Spike was shocked at the mug of blood in front of him that he looked at Cordy in confusion, at Cordelia's raised eyebrow he took a sip and promptly choked "what?"

"It's cinnamon" said Angel.

Spike looked at Angel, "she adds cinnamon to the blood, why would she…"

"For variety, duh" At Cordy's comment Spike noticed that the scoobies had heard his query, "Why, don't you like it?" she asked with a slight frown.

Spike looked at Angel who had a mini smirk on his face, "no, no, it's terrific pet, lovely" he then downed the mug in one, "the perfect temperature too", he was rewarded with a blinding smile as she took her seat.

"So do you want to know what's been happening here and LA first or shall we tackle your year away first" Willow began.

"Er, I know what happened here, already, the power's filled me in,"

"How?" Giles asked

"Vision, how else, I got the last year for everybody in my head"

"Everything?" Wesley queried.

"Everything" she replied looking at Wesley and Gunn, the latter blushed. "We will talk later" she remarked to the pair, Gunn ducked his head whilst Wesley merely met her stare.

"Anyway" Buffy began interrupting their staring contest. "So where'd you go?"

"What did you do?" Faith jumped in.

"Why'd you leave" it was so soft she could have missed it, but she heard, his voice rang clear in her ears and in her heart. The table froze at Angel's question.

"I was needed…they told me I was needed more somewhere else and that I had out grown my life here."

"So you just left" Gunn asked in a hurt voice, "without telling anyone"

"There wasn't any time, and you know the mission…"

"Comes first" Angel finished off for her.

"They told me that it would only be a week, on earth"

Angel scoffed.

"Anyway, when I had completed my mission, they told me that Earth was in trouble and that I was needed here, then they told me that I had actually been gone for nearly a year, and that a rogue power had taken over my physical body to take over the world and remove free will, then they decided to speed up the process by showing me everything that had happened, and told me that I had to help stop this apocalypse, I woke up in LA, then I made my way here for the family reunion, and that's my story" the entire table could hear Cordelia's bitterness, and hurt.

"So you met these Powers'? What are they like?" Dawn asked tried to change the subject.

"You **met **the powers! Oh my God, no human has ever…" Giles was astonished

"I'm not human, not anymore"

"It's still unheard of Princess" Lorne tried to show the importance of the meeting.

"They owed me" Cordy shrugged it off,

"So where did you wake up in LA" Faith asked

"In some abandoned Church in Central, that reminds me Gunn, Rondell told me to tell you to call him soon."

"You saw Rondell? When? Why?" Gunn asked in confusion.

"Look when I woke up this morning, I knew that you guys were at the mansion, but you needed help, so I went to the hotel to get David Nabbits' number, cause I thought maybe he could help, you know financially. He did, we've got supplies coming in from tomorrow morning, medicine, weapons, food, books, clothes, we have nearly forty people her and we needed supplies, so then I had some stuff delivered to Rondell, in case we fail in Sunnydale, I thought LA would be a good second line of defence." Seeing the looks of astonishment on everybody's face she let out a defensive "what? I thought it was a good idea."

"No, No, it was a great idea, and it is very much appreciated I guess we're in shock, you've managed a lot in a small space of time." Giles rushed to reassure the young woman.

"Damn, C. You did all that and you only woke up this morning!" Faith was impressed

"Well, you know me champion shopper" Cordy dismissed the dark haired slayers praise.

"So what did the power's think of our situation, did they give any help at all?" Wesley brought them all back to the dire situation they were in.

"Do you know why the first is attacking now," Cordy began, trying to find out exactly how much they knew.

"We think it has to do with Buffy's return from heaven, that there was an in balance" Giles said with an apologetic look to his slayer, Willow shuffled in her seat, feeling guilty.

"That's close, but the in-balance wasn't just caused by Willow resurrecting Buffy, but rather a collection of events, that were ironically prophesised to occur, Angel's ensoullment, Buffy's first death and Xander saving her, Angel's return from a hell dimension, multiple slayers, my receiving the visions, Darla's rebirth, Connor's conception and birth, his kidnapping, Dawn's transformation from energy to human, Buffy sacrifice, and resurrection, Willow's addiction, my demonisation, ascension, the rogue power taking over my body. All these helped create this in-balance, it's been building up for centuries, right now the First Evil is still stuck in an incorporeal form, so we still have time, as long as there are no more major shifts and in-balances. All these events had to occur, it was no single person's fault, and I'm here because the powers' don't understand human emotions and they don't understand how we can sacrifice everything for one person and sacrifice ourselves for the world, they can't comprehend our actions especially in these situations. So here I am."

"Here you are". Angel replied softly, they gazed at one another.

"So they didn't actually say exactly how we were supposed to stop this apocalypse, typical" Gunn's comment brought the duo out of their staring contest.

"We work together, as we always do" Willow's heartfelt statement was met by stares of disbelief and snorts from both Spike and Faith.

"What? I know I'm not the only one thinking it! Look around the table Red, have you seen so many issues in one place outside of Jerry Springer, if the fate of the world rests on us all getting along like a friggen Julie Andrews movie then the world is screwed."

"Wow, Spike that was almost inspiring do you do graduation speeches as well?" Cordy snarked at him. "Actually the fate of the world depends on you Spike" Seeing the look of utter confusion on Spike's face and the shock on everybody else she couldn't help it, she burst into peals of laughter. "Sorry, I couldn't resist, you guys should have seen your faces only Fred looked like she wasn't having a heart attack."

"Ha Ha, very funny cheerleader, do you do stand-up?"

"Just for you, cause you're family an' all"

Spike glowed at being referred to as family again, and Angel well Angel growled.

"Oh stop growling Angel, it's not nearly as scary as your Barry Manilow fetish" Cordy's reply garnered a 'Amen to that sister' from Lorne, nods of agreement from the Fang Gang, Faith and Spike, and looks of shock and astonishment from the rest.

"Hey! If you just listen to the lyrics…" Angel drawled off "anyway I'm not the one who can't appreciate the finer arts, and you drool, more than Connor did." Angel tried to rebuild his ego which had been smashed by a Queen C driven Mack truck.

"Whatever, Sir Broodsalot"

Wesley once again tried to reign in the bickering for one painful moment he felt a pang of remembrance, he quashed it down, that Wesley was dead, cold and distant Wesley was required, and because of this his reprimand came out sharper than originally intended. "Children please".

"Woah, Wes, what happened to the tea drinking, nerdy ex-watcher I so fondly remember" Cordy tried to lighten the atmosphere.

"You know what happened." His glacial reply sent shivers down everybody's backs, and Faith tensed.

"Wes-"

"Don't Cordelia, now is not the time for our issues, we'll deal with it later"

"When, exactly Wes, you give me a time and I'll be there." Cordy snapped back, she was getting angry at this new Wesley, first Angel then Wesley was anybody the same? She didn't think so; the last year had wounded them all.

"I think you'll find the problem was that **you weren't **there, you were **busy.**" Wes' tone made the word 'busy' sound like the dirtiest word in the dictionary.

Cordy's spine stiffen at the implied dig, then she softened, he was right. Twice he had needed her and twice she had let him down, first time when she went on vacation whilst her family was destroyed, the second time she had concentrated her guilt and time on Angel, not once visiting her best friend, brother in hospital or at home.

"Woah, hang on there dog, that's past-"

"No Gunn, he's right, I should have been there, and there's not a day go buy that I don't regret it, and when I came back I was so focussed on being there for- Angel, because he needed me and I ignored the fact that my best friend was lying in the hospital, I was so angry at losing Connor that I blamed Wesley, because it was easier to blame Wesley than to-"

"We all make mistakes" Wesley offered, after finally getting out some of his repressed anger at Cordelia he found that he didn't need it any longer, he was glad she was back, he missed her, and they needed her. It never occurred to him to think that his family needed him to.

She couldn't help it; she got up and hugged him-hard.

"God, I missed you." She said fervently.

"And I missed you, and you're poorly made weak tea" He replied as he hugged her equally hard.

She snorted, "I'm sorry for everything, and Lilah- I know it wasn't me, but. I'm sorry, I won't pretend to understand, I know you cared-loved her, and-"

"Lilah, who is Lilah? Not that she-bitch that worked for Hell Inc." Faith's exclamation drew everyone's attention from Cordy and Wes to Faith, who had blushed as she realised that her silent thoughts were not so silent-'Damn'.

"Yep, that she-bitch" But it was Fred's vocal agreement to Faith rather descriptive terms for Lilah that shocked the group.

"Fred!" Cordy was interrupted by a scream from upstairs.

**AN:- Hey it's me again, here's the thing, I'm trying to all the characters as much as I can, but obviously there's only so much i can do, some character's I gravitate to more than other's, such as Cordy, Fred. Angel etc. As this is an Angel fic I will be focussing on the Fang Gang and bring in the Scoobies on the side, the exceptions being Spike, Dawn and Willow. (Faith I count as part of the fang gang). I may not have mentioned it before but this fic is an AU, as it veering off the show. I have one tiny request (well two), the first is any of the potentials names, ecluding the ones I've already got, I have no access to BtVS s7. The second is more of a poll, if you guys could let me know of some of your favourite AtS villians, dead or alive to make a cameo, I already have plans for my favourites, Thanks, and let me know what you thought of this chapter, am getting any better. I just re-read some of my earlier chapters, so many typos, I apologise. Anyway thanks for your time. Inara**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Faith thought she was going to be sick, she had seen many horrific things in her life before and after she was chosen, she had done many unspeakable things in her 'dark' time, but this scene was going to burned into her mind, she noticed small things at first, potentials, girls really, screaming, crying, some in shock and some being violently sick, she also noticed the sheer amount of red, she didn't remember ever seeing so much red I her life, and the smell copper and fear. She absentmindedly noticed the bodies of 9 potentials, they were shredded, was the term that popped into her mind. She vaguely acknowledged that they were lain in a pattern, a wheel or maybe a triangle, she tried to look closer but was brought to a stop by the expressions on the girls faces' sheer unadulterated terror. Faith's mind was running on whilst her body was frozen, the slayer in her seeing no broken furniture, the window was closed, the door hadn't been forced, the room was untouched if you could ignore the 9 dead girls on display and their blood decorating the beds, the carpet, the walls. What could possibly sneak into this house, kill 9 girls violently and silently and leave without any of them noticing. She was going to be sick, she was trying her hardest not to think about the girls, just think of them as victims, she had to focus on the situation not on the girls, the same girls that she had been training with the day before, and fighting alongside a few hours ago. She was brought out of her thoughts as she could hear Buffy trying to stop someone from entering.

"Dawn, stop please. You shouldn't see this, I don't want you to see this" Buffy's voice was starting to break under the strain, she valiantly trying to protect her little sister from the nightmare that she wished she could avoid, she did not want to think about the deaths of nice girls under her protection, she would protect Dawn, she **had to** protect Dawn, that's all that mattered.

Dawn knew that she didn't want to go into that room, the screaming, crying and paleness of the faces around her told her that much, Willow had already run past her with tears down her face, a horrified expression and Dawn knew she was vomiting in the bathroom, Fred had followed on her heels, the green demon Lorne, she thought refused to step into the bedroom mumbled something about violent vibes and retreated presumably to his drink. But it was the fear, shock, disgust, pain and anger on the remaining faces that told her that she absolutely did **not** want to see what was in that room. What could possibly scare her sister arguably the best slayer in history, or Faith who was intimate with violence, Anya who had seen more violence and terror in her 1000 years as Anyanka even looked shell shocked, Spike and Angel like Anya had seen and caused terror in their lifetimes were paler than she had thought vampires could be, she shivered. She felt a hand on her lower back, calming, soothing, and familiar. She glanced back and saw Connor; she unconsciously leaned back and took the comfort offered. She didn't know why but she felt drawn to grasp his hand, so she did. She squeezed his hand to try and offer some support back and then turned back to face her sister who was still blocking the entrance to the room.

"Buffy, I can't explain it, I don't **want **to go in there, I **need** to."

"What do you mean you need to…?"

"Buffy" Cordelia's voice stopped the blonde's question.

"Buffy, let Dawn in. She has to see this, I'm sorry." Cordy looked into Buffy's eyes to try to convey her sincerity, "they both do." Buffy just looked back confused and nodded, she would get her answers later, she'd make sure of it, with that she turned back to her baby sister and hated herself, Cordelia and the world for what she was about to show her. Dawn had connected with these girls, they were her friends, and now she would see them as a terrifying nightmare.

Dawn and Connor slowly walked into the room, they stopped almost immediately, Dawn let out a tiny gasp, Connor was certain that he was the only one to hear. He could see the adults standing around the room, they had been quietly discussing something but had fallen silent, it looked like Gunn and Xander had gone to find Fred and Willow, whereas Faith was frozen on his left, his dad had been in the discussion with Spike, Giles, Wesley and Anya, Buffy had moved from behind them to the group on his left, all of them were avoiding looking at the scene in the centre of the room. It was on Cordelia however where his gaze lingered. She was standing by the window (that he noticed was closed, with no sign of forced entry, so they didn't come fro there he made note of silently), it was the fact that Cordelia's eyes had not left Dawn's that he found disconcerting. He didn't know what made him touch Dawn in the first place, he was a tactile person but something told him to support her, so he did, his instincts had rarely let him down. Cordy's eyes dropped to their joined hands and he swore there was a ghost of smile and a hint of apprehension in her eyes, but when she looked back to Dawn her eyes and voice were all business.

"Dawn, tell me what you see."

"What? I don't understand" Dawn's voice held unshed tears, her skin was ashen 'she really didn't want to be here.

"Dawn, I know you don't want to be here, Gods I wish we weren't here, but I need your help, Dawn you need to look around the room, distance yourself from the girls, look at the room with an objective eye, dig deep and **tell me what you see**" the end of Cordy's speech was lined with steel, the rest of the room looked confused at Cordy's order, but stayed silent even Buffy who could tell that something was happening.

Dawn stared at Cordelia silently for a minute, and then closed her eyes. As she opened her eyes, she tightens her hold on Connor who had become her anchor and gazed around the room. "Door and Window were untouched, so they either knew and trusted the killer(s) or magic was involved, probably the latter as either the other girls upstairs or we would have heard a fight, something managed to shred 9 girls silently and leave without us noticing, it was quick, none of the girls have defensive wounds on their hands or arms, so they either were too frightened to fight back or the attack was too fast, I'm guessing too fast with more than one attacker as not one girls had time to raise the alarm.-"

"Or there was a silencing charm on the room" Willow's shaking voice announced her return to the room.

Dawn nodded in acknowledgement. "Probably, the placement of the bodies indicates ritualistic or symbolic significance, I don't think any other spells were done here" Dawn looks to Willow for confirmation, at Willow uncertain nod she continues "but I'm guessing it's a message." At this statement the room stills and Cordy asks "why do think that?"

Dawn got he impression she was being tested, but she didn't know what for, "they or I'm assuming the first wants us to know that were vulnerable, I our own home, that he can get to us at any time. He managed to kill 9 girls and arrange their bodies in a pattern whilst we were all downstairs drinking and laughing, and the other girls were just next door." She broke off and looked at Giles and Wesley and then at Cordelia "Oh my God, it's so obvious, 9 girls, 9 bodies arranged in a circle, 9 dead bodies arranged in the circle of life, oh that's sick."

"Apparently the First Evil has a taste for irony" Cordelia sounded anything but amused.

Cordelia's comment snapped Dawn out of the dispassionate trance she had been in whilst relating her impressions. She really did want to be sick now, to realise that 9 life had been ended was bad enough, but had they been fighting then she could have mourned and dealt with their deaths, but to find out that 9 of her friends had been terrorised and brutally murdered as a message, for irony, she didn't know how to deal with that. Add to the fact that none of them noticed, her stomach curled, but she refused to be sick, she would not give into the weakness, she would see this to the end and make sure that somebody paid for the end of 9 innocent lives.

Cordelia was impressed, Dawn had managed to calmly pick up information form a horrific scene, analyse and interpret what she had seen, she had managed to access something inside herself that allowed her to function, the only slight sign of weakness was her tight hold on Connor's hand, but that easily understandable, part of her worried at how easily the pair had joined, but she of all people could understand being inexplicably drawn to one person, she still felt it. But Connor and Dawn would need each in the coming days she would just have to ensure that they didn't cross any boundaries too soon. Anya's voice broke her internal musings.

"How on earth did you know all that, some of us guessed some of that but how does a sixteen year old girl know all that?"

"She's not a sixteen year old girl, or at least she's not **just** a sixteen year old girl." Cordelia answered for Dawn.

"We need to clean up, and check up on the other girls, Willow can you and Kennedy take care of the girls tonight." Giles asked.

After Willow had left the room, Cordy turned to Spike and Angel "if you guys could take care of girls, a burial on the grounds maybe, I'll take care of the room."

**1 hour later…**

Cordelia was standing in the now thankfully corpse free room, she turned however at Wesley's voice "You shouldn't do it, you need to recharge, cleansing the room however gratifying will sap what little strength you have left." She didn't answer him, instead she just glowed. Once the light had died down the room was thankfully clean. She stumbled slightly as she made her way to an empty bed, Wesley only raised an eyebrow as she lay down and patted a space next to her and silently invited him to join her.

"I'm so tired"

Wesley scoffed "I did try to-"

"Not today, well not just today" she amended.

"This last year has been difficult" Wesley understated.

This time Cordy scoffed. "Difficult, Wes you had to deal with Billy bringing out your dark side, Fred choosing Gunn, a false prophecy that led you betray your family, had your throat slit by psycho Justine, Connor had to live in a hell dimension because of said betrayal, Angel tried to kill you, your family abandoned you, you started to shag Lilah fricken' Morgan of all people, essentially joined Wolfram and Hart, fell in love with Lilah 'she devil' Morgan, dealt with Angelus, the Beast, Evil Me, Evil Me killing Lilah, her death, breaking out Faith, sacrificing Faith to stop Angelus, ending world peace, and now 48 hours later you're fighting the First Evil back in Sunnyhell of all places, you find out the Council has been destroyed along with every member of your family except Molly who was lucky, and now we've discovered that the First Evil has just taken 9 innocent lives from right under our noses. God Wesley! Difficult doesn't even come close, and that was just what happened to you in the last year!"

He didn't reply, what could he say, she was right, so he just grabbed her hand, she squeezed tight and held on. They had both missed the small contact, and savoured the moment.

"God, do you remember when the only thing we were worried about was saving the innocents in my visions and paying the bills, then the innocents became 'helping the hopeless' and now the fate of the world rests on own shoulders." Cordy began to laugh, "Oh we are so screwed Wesley, I don't know what to do, and everything/everyone is so messed up. If only we had more time. The stakes are so high, its our world, our dimension and I'm supposed to be this higher lower being or lower higher being I never did figure out which, anyway the world is ending and my family is holding on by a thread and I don't know how to fix it." Wesley just lay there as her laughter turned into sobs, he knew she needed to vent, he was glad he was able to witness it, she had been to assured and confident earlier, the Sunnydale contingent wouldn't notice it but he knew how soft Cordelia Chase really was, her strength was amazing but her heart was easily broken. Wesley held his best friend tight, and shed a tear, he had stonewall erected around his heart for so long that it only began to break as he witnessed the tears of his best friend, who they all seemed to forget was only 23. In the end he shed a tear for them all, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Faith, Gunn, Fred, Dawn and Connor all of them under 25 and they all had been fighting too long. And now these potentials 9 dead already and many of them not yet 16.

Cordy slowly began to realise that Wesley was crying as well, she was grateful, the cold isolated man she had been reunited with before was not her best friend, she had been worried about his silence. In the end she held her best friend who had lost everything and was thankful that she was able to. Once they had run out of tears no words were needed, they were family. Wesley broke the silence "I missed you".

"I missed you too."

"We all did, especially-"

"Wes don't"

"You need to fix this Cordelia; we can't fight each other and the First."

"I know; I just don't know how. We used to be so close now all we can do is hurt each other. I think it's too late Wes, we've done too much or not enough, I just don't know anymore."

"I remember when I first saw you and Angel in LA, I was so jealous at the bond you had, it was so strong I wanted no I needed to be apart of it. Trust me Cordelia, I've only seen bonds like that strengthen, Seer and Champion. It's sealed by the Fates. You'll find your way back to each other again. I know it. Maybe you can't see the way because you're already on it."

The ex watcher and seer/higher lower being or lower higher being spent the rest of the night contemplating the past, the future and all that lay between and savouring the other's presence. They spent the night mourning the unnecessary deaths of 9 girls and began the process of slowly healing each other of wounds long festering.

**AN Thanks to Justawritier, Avana45 and Lea for their kind thoughts. This quick update was for you guys, you all inspired my fingers to type. PS: Lea just checked out your site it's FAB, everybody go check out Wereleopard's Lair, it's got some great fics. And you totally got me hooked on BSG so on that not update your BSG fic! Hint Hint! Thanks everybody for reading I still need help with minor villians (justawritier- i have plans for lindsay), Thanks, Inara:).  
**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Crawford Street Mansion Grounds, same time as Cordy/Wes talk**

Faith stood watching over the graves of the 9 girls they had just buried, they had decided to quickly bury the girls tonight and have some kind of formal memorial the next day, none of the adults wanted to extend the pain of today for the other girls, between the fight at the docks, the Angel and Cordy show, and the sneak attack the day had been extremely difficult for everybody, after the burial the adults had retreated inside all except Faith. She couldn't make herself leave the girls she felt the need to stand guard _'a little too late' _the cynical part of herself said. She remembered why she never liked attachments, even as a child, but Angel and prison had shown her that she needed people, but standing over the graves of 9 girls that she had taught and promised to protect served as a painful reminder why she hated attachments. _Pain, Guilt, Anger, Remorse, Fear, Shock and Despair she knew them all intimately._ She wished she could revert back into the stone-cold bitch she used to be at least she didn't have to deal with all the emotions that came with caring.

"It wasn't your fault"

Faith didn't even react to his voice, part of her knew he hadn't left with the others, he had made himself her self appointed guardian, and he wouldn't leave her alone. But she was the guardian for those girls, Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies had dealt with the First Evil, Bringers and the big picture so she had decided to focus her attention on the potentials, to train and guide the girls so hopefully they would stay alive and not make the mistakes she was famous for, but she had failed, again. They didn't even get the chance to fight, not in the main battle; instead she was looking at 9 graves.

"Faith, you couldn't have done anything, we were all downstairs with you, none of heard a thing." Angel tried once again to reach the brunette slayer.

"I don't know how to deal with this Angel, all these feelings, I thought after everything I had done I could never feel as bad or as guilty as I did then, but this is so much worse."

"It's their innocence, 9 innocent girls were murdered tonight, to prove a point. None of can deal with that. 9 girls under our protection, Faith your not alone, we're all feeling the same way."

"It's ironic". Said Faith as she lay down on the grass and gazed at the stars.

"What's ironic?" Angel asked as he joined her.

"Me and you, here now, feeling like we do, there was a time when we wouldn't have bat an eye at what happened, and now. Now it seems like the end of the world."

"Faith- It **is **the end of the world." He replied deadpan.

"It's not just that. There are some things that I thought would never change, you know. Sunnydale – hellmouth, Tom and Nicole, Spike –evil, Willow- cuddly, God Giles, I never thought Giles could leave Buffy, but he left. Spike is now fighting for the white hats; Willow has flayed someone alive, what the hell happened when I was in prison. Everything has gone loco, your previously shallow, self centred, high class secretary is now some sort of higher whats-it, Wesley, tea drinking, book loving Wesley has a darkness that scares even me. It's like we're the sane ones and that worries me."

"I know what you mean; I'm worried about Willow, Cordy and Wesley too. And don't even get me started on Spike."

"Do you ever wonder-" Faith stopped abruptly.

"What?"

"Whether, their lives would have been better off if they hadn't have been dragged into this life, no Buffy I mean. I've thought about what my life would have been like if I hadn't been chosen, but then they'd probably be dead. I don't know if that worse or not."

"I understand Faith, but then the selfish part of me kicks in, I need them in my life Faith, I learnt the hard way what my life would be like without them, but they all chose to stay Faith, that's what you've got to remember they all **chose **to stay and fight."

"These girls didn't get to choose Angel, it was fight or die, none of those girls got a choice. God Angel they're called **chosen**, but they **don't** get a choice, at least Buffy and I got superpowers in the deal or they get are big targets on their backs. How are they expected to deal, survive let alone defeat the First Evil?"

"They have potential, every single one of them has potential or they wouldn't have been chosen, and they'll survive because we have to, because there is no alternative. We'll figure out a way to defeat the First. Giles and Wesley will find a way."

"Wesley- God Angel have you even seen him, do you really think he's up to this?"

"He'll get it done, he always does."

"But at what expense Angel, he's already so cold and distant."

"So he's harder now, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Angel in 4 years he's gone from the cowardly lion to the tin man. How can you not be worried?"

"He's had to deal with a lot in the last couple of years; it was going to change him."

"I know, I'm just afraid that the loss of the council will be proverbial last straw, they slaughtered his entire family Angel. How does someone deal with that and figure out a way to save the world at the same time. It's too much Angel; he needs you now more than ever."

"He's not alone; he has Fred, Gunn, Lorne, Me and…everybody."

"Everybody? You mean Cordelia."

"She'll take care of him."

"I was wondering when you were going to bring her up, how are you dealing with-"

"Drop it Faith" replied Angel with a tone of finality.

"Not a chance, I was in your mind remember; I know how much she means to you."

"I can't deal with all that yet, maybe after all this-"

"After the apocalypse we don't know how to beat, if you both survive and if she stays, then you'll deal with it! God Angel grow up! You have the opportunity to fix this, don't waste it. You know why she went now, you know she never betrayed you, isn't that a good thing?"

"It doesn't change anything."

"Why?"

"Because…"

"Because what Angel! She didn't do anything wrong, she…"

"**She still LEFT! Damn it, she still left me."**

"And that's the problem, when you needed her, she wasn't there."

"She promised to stay with me once, she promised to stay until I 'shansued', and I believed her, I mean she's always been there. These last couple of years she's always been there, she's nagged me, annoyed me, fixed me up, made me laugh, stopped me brooding, she got me into colours, she's fixed me blood, made me family and even though I pushed her away so many times, I never once thought she would leave me. Not really, I mean we're linked, bonded by the powers I didn't think she **could **leave me. But she left and I realised it was never about me, it was the **mission**, it's always the mission first, help the hopeless, my atonement. It scares me sometimes." Angel went off on another tangent.

"What does?" Faith asked trying to keep track of the conversation.

"I'm a vampire, I'm used to obsession, addiction, I mean I'm compelled to drink blood to live. But it scares me how much I need her, want her. I don't know when it happened, or how but somewhere along the line I became so dependent on her I don't know how to exist without her. Even when it was 'evil' Cordy I still thought it was her, so I was ok, but now I know its her, the real Cordelia, my Cordy, and I know she left me. She actually left me and I don't even know if she's gonna stay this time. I hate that she has so much control over me, I can't even lock her in a room somewhere…"

"Whoa, there Angel, you can't just…"

"That's what your not getting Faith, what you don't realise, if there was a way to make her stay, I would do it in a heartbeat, regardless of what she wants or the fate of the world. That's what terrifies me; I need her more than blood."

"Wow, that's kinda sick Angel"

"What's sick is that she knows this, she has to. And she still left."

"It all comes back to that doesn't it, the fact that Cordelia left you, even if it was for the greater good, even though she never meant to leave for good, even though she's back, you still can't get over the fact that she left you."

"What can I say, I'm a vampire."

"You're supposed to be the vampire with a soul fighting for good, stop being so…"

"Selfish, obsessive…"

"Yeah, she has the right to live her life how she wants to Angel."

"I get that, I do. It's just so hard with her being so close, part of me wants to hold tight and never let her go, and the other part of me wants to kill her for leaving, for not recognising the fact that she belongs with me, belongs to me. I just don't how to reconcile the two."

"Hey there, Big Guy, Cordy doesn't belong to anyone."

"She's my seer."

"Angel, maybe you need to deal with these ownership issues, Cordelia Chase does **not **belong to you, she is her own person."

"It works both ways Faith, I belong to her too, I'm her champion, her warrior. It's hard to explain."

"So, what are you going to do? She's not going anywhere, not for the moment at least, and we need her. So are you going to be able to forgive and forget? We need you both to be able to work together, if we're gonna beat this."

"I want to Faith, I really do, I just don't know if I can, I let her down as well. We've hurt each other so much I don't how we're supposed to come back from that."

"We'll find a way"

"Hey, wasn't I supposed to make you feel better, not the other way around."

"You did, Angel just talking to you reminded me why I'm here, what we're here to do, the First Evil drew 'first' blood tonight, its time we got back in to the game. We will win Angel, we have a full team, we know what's at stake, we'll fight till we win or die trying, tomorrow we shelve all our personal crap, and discuss how we're gonna reply to the 'First Evil's' message."

"Sounds like a plan, let's go".

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

**Crawford Street Mansion, the next day, post memorial**

"So let's summarise what we do know about the First Evil" Fred began in front of her trusty white board.

"Can take the form of anyone dead" Dawn added helpfully. Fred dutifully noted it on the board.

"Damn, I was gonna say that!" Anya pouted, Dawn just made a face.

"Apparently it's still incorporeal, so it's unable to touch anything or anyone." Giles related.

"That's good, we can use that." Wes remarked.

"How do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Well we can initiate a protocol of sorts, for example we make sure that we all touch something or someone, to prove that we are who we are."

"We'll need that." Spike added abruptly.

"Spike?" Giles questioned.

"The First Evil can take the form of the dead, any of the dead or undead, but it can also take the form of anyone who has died."

"You mean…" Wes trailed off.

"It's appeared to me in the form of Buffy" Spike answered Wesley's unasked question.

"So the First can appear as Buffy, Spike and Angel has anyone else here died?" Anya asked in her usual manner.

"Actually that means the First can appear as any vampire…" Dawn added.

"Taunted me as Drusilla as well." Spike absentmindedly added.

"The First Evil is malicious, so we should expect familiar forms…" Cordelia stated joining the discussion for the first time.

"So it was the First that…" Dawn asked.

Cordy nodded, "took the form of your mother, I'm sorry."

"The First Evil used the form of Jenny Calender amongst others when it came after me 4 years ago." Angel stated.

"I'd expect the First to use our own personal demons against us, so anyone we knew is fair game, for example for me I'd expect a visit from a family member…"

"Or Lilah" Cordy reminded him.

"Or Lilah, Faith the First will probably take the form of the Mayor or one of your victims, Anya you would probably have a visit from a victim from your time as Anyanka, Dawn and Buffy I'm afraid the First will probably reuse your mother's form. Gunn, the First will most likely choose Alanna, Willow…"

"…Tara" she finished for him.

"Ok, we get the idea; we all get a visit from our closest dead." Buffy summarised.

"Connor, I'm sorry but you should anticipate an appearance from Darla as well as…" Cordelia added quickly.

Connor just nodded and looked at his father. "As well as?"

Cordy took a deep breath "Angelus".

The table stilled. That name still struck fear into the hearts of most at the table.

"Even though we know that it's the First masquerading as these people, doesn't mean that they won't be accurate impersonations or be able to harm, maybe not physically but psychologically and emotionally definitely." Cordelia reminded the table.

"Let's just hope the First can't reanimate the dead, because then we'd be screwed." Faith added unhelpfully. "What, I wasn't the only one thinking it…" She saw Wesley, Anya and Giles all exchange a glance. "What? What was that look about?"

"Er- there are some speculations that reanimation is within the scope of the First's powers. But that is unsubstantiated." Wesley answered quickly.

"Oh crap"

"Thank you, Cordelia that was exactly what I thought." Wes smiled back. "Now Xander and Lorne are due back from Willy's soon, we'll see what they have to add."

**20 minutes later…**

"So guess who's got a new army coming into town? Come on, no guesses? I'll give you a clue… begins with the letter F…"

"Alright, Xander, settle down. Do you have a description of the army-"

"Lorne what's with the pale face, you okay?" Gunn asked as the green demon ignored his question and began mixing a seabreeze.

"Lorne?" Fred asked this time. Lorne just drank.

"Well they're apparently organised, because Willy said they wore these grey uniforms, and that they were demonic, just in case I didn't mention it before…" Xander carried on.

Cordy began to get a sinking feeling, her stomach began to tie up.

"And Willy say's their faces are all stitched up," Angel drew an unnecessary breath, "like a mask and that they kinda looked like weird demon…" Xander went on.

"Nazi's" Angel filled in for Xander, as his gaze never left Cordelia's.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Xander asked, oblivious to the tension that was rapidly increasing in the room. Angel didn't answer nor did his gaze wander. The room fell into silence as Angel slowly approached Cordelia.

Cordelia's eyes had filled with tears and heartbreaking memories, she wasn't in Sunnydale anymore, she was stuck in that ship at the shipping port in LA, as she was forced to watch Doyle jump to his death, every agonising second as his demonic face melted off in front of her eyes, his screams still ringing in her ears, a flash of light…and then nothing, no piece of Alan Francis Doyle, nothing to show that he existed, that he died to save so many, and in the end he gave her the greatest gift he had, his visions. But Cordelia was stuck in a cycle, her memory/vision was replaying over and over, non stop his declaration, _'you never know till you're tested'_, his jump, and his agonising death. Over and Over all because of the Scourge, and she couldn't make it stop.

"Cordy, Cordy, come on Cordy, come back to me, it's over." Angel whispered again and again.

Cordelia could hear Angel's voice faintly in the background, she focussed on it and suddenly the room snapped back in to focus, she looked directly in Angel's golden brown eyes "oh God, it's them, they're back Angel, it's **_The Scourge_**" her voice filled with pain, a tear slipped down her face as both Seer and Champion remembered.

_**First Soldier Down**_

Suddenly Cordelia broke from Angel's intense gaze, her eyes swept across the room; she quickly picked up her sword and moved towards the door. She had some vengeance in mind.

Within seconds Angel had realised her intentions and blocked the doorway, he knew because they were so similar, it was his initial reaction to the news as well. Revenge was on his mind too, but not like this, it was too reckless and it would get Cordelia killed, so he had blocked her exit.

"Move" her tone was glacial, hard and cold as ice.

"No, Cordy, I promise you they will pay, but not right now, we need to plan, strategise."

"I have a plan, so move. I'm not asking again."

"What's the plan?" Angel asked; if she really did have a plan to eradicate the Scourge, he'd be right alongside her.

"I kill them all, one by one, or by the dozen I don't care, they all die today at my hand." Cordelia's detached tone scared even the Fang Gang.

"Good plan, now sit down, let's figure out how to implement it."

For a while they just stared at one another, she with a slight nod Cordy took a seat.

"Are the Scourge...?" Wesley trailed off.

"Yep" Angel replied.

"Oh" and Wesley took a seat next to Cordelia and held her hand.

"Okay, who the hell are…what did you call them?" Faith asked Wesley.

"The Scourge" Cordelia spat out the name as if it was the vilest epitaph she could think of. "They are like demonic Nazi's, they believe only pure blood demons should exist, and that all others should be exterminated, including Vampires. Angel and I have encountered them before in LA."

"It's how we lost Doyle" Angel added.

"Who's Doyle?" Connor asked.

"He's a friend your father and I worked with before your Uncle Wesley joined us; he used to have the visions, he passed them on to me before he died." Cordelia answered Connor's query.

"The Scourge are notoriously hard to kill" Lorne added.

"Oh God, Angel, What if they have another beacon!" the fear in Cordelia's voice could be heard by all.

"Then we'll stop it." He looked directly at her "**I'll **stop it."

"No, I can't go through that again Angel, I won't lose you too, not like that, I won't survive it."

"Cordy-"

"**NO!"** The vehemence of Cordelia's exclamation shocked everyone especially Angel, who tried to reason with her.

"Cor-"

"I said no, and I meant it, we'll find another way, we don't even know if they have a beacon, the First is using a lot of non pure demons and vampires, he wouldn't want them destroyed."

"So now you're telling me to wait." Angel was amused at how quickly they're positions had been reversed.

"Oy! Poof! How about filling the rest of us in on the situation." Spike quickly diverted their attention, when all of a sudden Fred's mobile rang.

"Hello…This is she…**WHAT? HOW? WHEN? **Are you sure? Oh God" Fred quickly began to have a panic attack as Gunn took the phone from her and began speaking into it as Spike held on to the panic-stricken Texan. Trying to get her to breathe, "Someone go get a sodding paper bag, for God's sake" Spike was quickly trying to help the woman who had made him family.


End file.
